My first post here in the reflections.  Hope it goes well.

Where have I been?

My formal education may be considered rather boring.

Raised Catholic.  Catholic elementary school, starting in Pre-K all the way through the 8th grade.  What did I learn in those ten years?  No running or ball playing in the playground, and a wide array of filthy jokes.  Sad, isn’t it?

I may be making too light of it, I had my coursework.  Times tables, some algebra, some sciences.  Sadly nothing challenging.  Certainly not what one would expect from a Catholic school that prides itself as one of the best in the city.  I digress, it was a delightful experience socially.  That must count for something.  And to the school’s credit, it sends many students to decent high schools with good scholarships.  After the eighth grade, I may have needed a change of pace.

Welcome to Holy Cross High School, where I would continue my Catholic education.  Fortunately, thanks to my successes in elementary school, these four years would be free (a luxury I liked very much, considering I chose it again on my next stop).  Before I get ahead of myself, we stick with the high school years.  To be honest, academically it Holy Cross was not the greatest choice.  I was rarely challenged, save for a College English course I took for credit in my senior year.  It did wonders for my appreciation of literature and poetry, rekindled a love for reading I had lost due to becoming complacent with pedestrian coursework, and challenged me to develop a sense of myself in my own writing.  My so called ‘academic’ writing was not as much polished as it was salvaged, but I developed a stream of consciousness style I enjoy very much, and often have to hold back in academic writing.

However, in my high school years, there was another type of learning that occurred.  Professor Ugoretz encouraged us to show more than just traditional learning.  Most of my learning took place out of the classroom, and out on the football field.  Too cliche`?  I agree.  Let me explain.  I would argue endlessly about how football, or sports in general, translate to life, but that would validate the cliche`-ness I am trying to avoid.  I mean I learned from my coaches.  Not all of them, but some of them.  They instilled qualities I needed that I was not getting in the classroom.  Commitment, work ethic, challenging myself.  Things most of me teachers did not provide as I coasted along with my A’s and no school bag.  I might have been lost without them.  They taught me more than all the schooling combined.  They prepared me for college better than anything I learned in 12th grade psychology (oddly enough was taught by my football coach.  Ok bad example.  Let us restart.) They prepared me for college better than anything I learned in 12th grade physiology.  That works better.

And obviously now I am here at Macaulay, pushing along, like I learned to do, from all my schooling and all my experiences.  Furthering my education, through new courses, new relationships, and new experiences.