Morgan Sheehan, Mikai Anthony, Jonathan Maxwell, Francesca Grossberg, Gaby Bommarito, William Geiger, Davis Luengthada, Marisa Hirschfield, Sira Basse, Dean Hall and Aditi Patwardhan are graduating seniors from the class of 2023. Each has had a different experience here. As time marches forward, memories become increasingly precious. For the seniors at Fieldston, their time in high school is drawing to a close, and they find themselves reflecting on the moments that have shaped them into the young adults they are today. Whether they’ve spent one year or all fourteen years here, Fieldston has offered them a unique educational and social experience. From the triumphs and joys to the trials and tribulations, their experiences have left an indelible mark on all of our lives.
Morgan Sheehan
Morgan has been here since the 6th grade, making him a seven year Fieldston student. One of his favorite academic experiences at Fieldston was his 11th grade physics class with Mr. Ben Wearn. Morgan really enjoyed being able to go in there every day and learn physics with a group of students who were really eager to learn new material, and a teacher who was even more eager to teach it. At one point, Mr. Wearn even dressed up as Isaac Newton when he introduced the universal gravitational constant. “It was an awesome lecture, ” Morgan recalls. The enthusiasm with which Mr. Wearn taught the class made it a great experience. He has enjoyed the collaborative environment, and critical thinking the school promotes, and believes they are going to be helpful in college and in the workplace. In regards to life skills, Morgan feels that equipped with all the Fieldston education has given him, “those will come much easier than studying multi-variable with Mr. Greenwald.”
Morgan is going to miss the small community. Each morning, when he is walking to the cafeteria for breakfast, he sees at least 2-3 people he is friendly with, and gets to chat with them briefly. He is going to miss that at the University of Chicago where there is a much larger campus, and he isn’t going to have that interaction as frequently. Something he will take to college with him is the importance of creating close friendships. Morgan says, “It is important for you to find a group of friends that enjoy similar things to them, especially in classes you are struggling with.” For him, this was 10th grade chemistry. He felt he was only able to get through this because of the great friends he had who helped him study. He also feels like this group of friends helped him get through the organizational disaster that was the community service requirement for Class of ‘23. Fieldston changed its community service graduation requirements for the class of ‘23, and he feels as though it was incredibly unclear what the requirements were. It was a little stressful not knowing what he needed to do to graduate.
Mikai Anthony
Mikai Anthony, a thirteen year student at ECFS, feels as though the structure, and style of teaching at Fieldston, especially in the highschool, has equipped him with the tools needed to succeed in college. He says, “I think that we get a lot of projects, and it’s a lot of planning out your own schedule, and I think that’s what college is going to be like, because you have a lot of free time, and you get to choose your own classes.” His time at Fieldston has taught him to manage his time well. Even with some hard classes (most notably Ms. Takoushian’s 6th grade American history class) and forced to go online freshman and sophomore year, he has relished the time he has spent here. Coming back to campus junior year after being fully online for two years, he loved the sense of community the school was able to restore. Seeing kids on the quad, listening to music and talking was a great welcome back after those two terrible years. His last words to students who may already be at the school, or who are going to join the community is to, “Put yourself out there, and do your work. It will help you in the long run.”
Jonathan Maxwell
Besides the cafeteria food, JJ has nothing bad to say about this school. He has enjoyed his last year here, his favorite parts being the Six Flags trip, and rafting trip the senior class got to experience at the beginning of the year. After being here for the past 13 years, in his words, “Fieldston really is the only thing I’ve known.” JJ feels prepared for life ahead, especially for college, and thinks it’s done more for him than any other school he could have gone to could have. To all future students, he says to stay on top of your work. “The heavy workloads can creep up on you, and the best way to relieve that stress is to be ahead of it.” While he says it took him a little longer to follow that advice, once he did it propelled him to where he is now.
Francesca Grossberg
Francesca has been at Fieldston since kindergarten, and thinks the best part about this school is all the opportunities it offers its students saying, “If you take advantage of the opportunities, you can get a lot out of the Fieldston experience.” She thinks you have to join clubs, or write for The Fieldston News, take the extra class, basically do whatever you want to do. Whether it is speaking at assembly, having a booth in the club fair, or a bake sale, use Fieldston as a canvas to paint the experience you want to make. One of the classes she got to enjoy was science research. She had an amazing two year experience with a lab at Columbia University, that she wouldn’t trade for the world, and feels is pretty unique to Fieldston. It gave her real life work experience, and further bolstered her in the Fieldston community. Francesca’s years at Fieldston have made her ready for life in college. She feels very lucky to have been sent here from a young age. It has taught her how to interact with other students, teachers and adults respectively and collaboratively. It has inspired her to take risks, such as in journalism, The Fieldston News, and Science Research where she had to reach out to people she did not know. It gave her a lot of confidence as a person, and she thinks this is incredibly valuable in college or getting a job. Even though she feels prepared and ready to move to a new state and start college, she will miss Fieldston. As editor of the Fieldston News and an athlete, Francesca says, “After spending so much time committed to these activities, it’s weird to leave it all behind simply because you age out of it.”
While she has enjoyed her time here at Fieldston, she wishes the competitive culture would change. “It can be overwhelming when everyone is asking you your test scores, or your grades, or where you are applying to college. That culture of trying to be the best needs to change. We can be a lot more productive, if we are more collaborative,” says Francesca.
Gaby Bommarito
“Work hard and enjoy your time while you’re here. It goes by quickly,” is Gaby’s advice for students at Fieldston. Even though she has been here since kindergarten, she feels like her time here has sped by. It has gifted her many valuable relationships, both with friends and teachers. The school has taught her a lot, and has prepared her for college. Gaby says “I have good communication skills, and learned to meet with teachers and ask for help.” Although the workload can be overwhelming at times, she has loved that she can balance it with the various extracurricular activities the school has to offer.
William Geiger
After spending the last six years at Fieldston, Will’s senior year has been his favorite so far. “I really like the senior trips, the senior trips have been a lot of fun,” says Will. With all the trips they get to enjoy such as rafting, and Six Flags, what could be any better? Although he feels like he is leaving behind the Fieldston community and the friendships he has formed in his past few years at Fieldston, he is ready to take the next steps in his life in college, and adapt to whatever life might throw at him. Will says,“I feel ready, and I feel like I can learn as I go along.” The incredible Fieldston teachers, who were very instrumental to his learning experience and time at this school, have prepared him for his next few years.
Davis Luengthada
Davis came to Fieldston when he was a freshman and has loved the open collaborative community. In his final year at fieldston, he has done an independent study called “Building Community Through Music” and has brought students and teachers in the Fieldston community together to create music. He has loved that Fieldston has given him the opportunity to facilitate this kind of project. Davis says, “It’s really something you can’t find at other schools, and I think that’s something very unique about Fieldston.” To all future students, he says to take advantage of all the resources Fieldston offers, whether it is community engagement, or joining clubs, it will help make the most of your time here. The community has also helped him prepare for life ahead. In 9th grade he was pretty shy, and the environment really helped him crawl out of his shell. He used to be a fairly poor public speaker, but through the seminar-like classes, he has much improved. Being forced to be uncomfortable made him a more confident speaker and person. The relationships he has fostered with other students and teachers have been a very important part of his last four years, and it is hard to get up and leave all that behind. He is looking forward to hearing a more diverse array of opinions as he starts college. Davis says, “Fieldston often preaches being open to different views, having different perspectives, especially in history and humanities classes, and I agree with that sentiment, but I don’t think Fieldston necessarily, in practice, actually does that.” Davis says there is a large emphasis on a more “progressive” perspective, and while he often finds himself aligned with those views, it closes the opportunity to have different views and different perspectives.
Marisa Hirschfield
Marisa has been here for her entire life. Having walked these halls for so long, there is a certain familiarity that permeates the building that she will miss as she moves on to the next chapter of her life. These are people she has been around for so long, and this is the only school she has known, it is hard leaving all that behind. The friendships she has formed, and the mentors she has found have been the best part of her time here. In her words, “Work hard, but remember a failed test grade, or a stressful week is not what you’re going to look back on on your deathbed. Ultimately it is the relationships you have, and the good times you’ve experienced that will be the most memorable and the most formative in your life.” As she steps away from Fieldston, she is grateful for the rigorous courses that have prepared her for college and the workplace, however she wishes we were more open to each other making mistakes and helping each other grow. As she knows many other students agree with, she thinks Fieldston could create more of a culture of civil discourse. I wish we were more open to each other making mistakes and helping each other grow.” She believes there is importance in varying opinions, and we should not attack people who have differing opinions to ours. Everyone’s identity affects the way they think, and having this type of diversity would improve the school, and the experience of its students.
Sira Basse
Sira has been at Fieldston since 6th grade, and has taken advantage of the many trips, both within the United States, and abroad. Being a part of the African Diaspora Club, she was able to take a trip to South Carolina in 6th grade. In 8th grade, she went to Taiwan, and this year, she went to Alabama. Referring specifically to this Alabama trip, Sira said, “It was a really great way to immerse ourselves with the information we were learning in our history classes. It was a very educational experience and I enjoyed it.” With all of these fun experiences, the Fieldston education also assigns a hefty workload. While she claims, “Teachers could work on assigning an appropriate amount of homework every night,” she feels as though the nearly college-level amount of work she has been getting is going to prepare her for the next 4 years.
Dean Hall
Compared to the all-boys Catholic school he attended for middle school, Fieldston has been very different, especially in regards to classes, and curriculum. He wishes politics did not play as integral of a role in his curriculum. “Sometimes it feels like you are being graded on your political beliefs, instead of the actual work you are doing,” claims Dean. Beyond the academics, he has liked the various trips he was able to go on, and the community that Fieldston is. Next year, he is going to a big college and is going to miss the tight-knit community that he has been familiar with the past 4 years. He is going to miss knowing everyone in the grade, and the very supportive faculty, but in his words, “It’s been a long 4 years and it kind of feels like its time to move on to a new path”
Aditi Patwardhan
Apart from one semester spent in South Africa with SEGL her junior year, Aditi has been at Fieldston her entire life. “My favorite thing about the school is the social part of the sports and the traditions,” she claims. Whether it is dancing in the pep rally in the fall, or going to the famous Fieldston vs. Poly (or Riverdale) hockey game, she has enjoyed the culture around athletics we have at this school. After spending her entire life here, she has made connections with students and teachers that she is going to miss next year when she goes to college. “I’m definitely going to miss my friends, and seeing familiar teachers around. Even in the cafeteria, I’ll bump into my middle school teachers or my STS kids and they’ll say “hi” to me.” Every first day of school has been at Fieldston, and that’s about to change. Breaking this 14 year long routine is going to be tough, but she feels like the rigorous academics have prepared her for life ahead. The teachers have been open to her asking questions, and even expressing differing opinions. Although it is not common for people to have different opinions here, she feels as though people are open to hearing all of them. However, she does wish Fieldston would have taught more about finances. While she does feel like she will be able to figure out her own finances, she thinks it would have been helpful if the school offered some sort of finance class. She feels as though this school has given her so many opportunities. There is definitely an emphasis to try as many new things as possible. She recalls, “Especially freshman year, there is so much pressure to sign up for as many clubs as you want. And although that is helpful, do the things that you are interested in.” She used Fieldston to try new things, but to hone in on the things she was already interested in.
