Lauren, Class 12

I began Chapin in Kindergarten and am now a senior. My favorite academic subjects are chemistry and math. Outside of the classroom, I devote most of my time to sports. I am an avid volleyball player. I have been on the Chapin varsity volleyball team since 9th grade and am a captain this year, and I have played on a travel team called NYC Juniors since 10th grade. I am also a horseback rider and my horse’s name is Mr. Snuggles. Together, Snugs and I compete in the level 3/level 4 jumpers. I also participate in Chapin’s Dance Club where I not only dance, but also choreograph my own dances. Aside from sports, I am a tour guide for the admissions office at Chapin and I also frequently talk to prospective Kindergarten parents about life at Chapin. I am also a volunteer at Horse Ability in Long Island, where I help disabled children learn to ride and interact with horses. Additionally, I baby-sit and work at American Apparel. Below are what my weeks look like during the school year:

I know it looks like a lot — trust me, it is — but the average Chapin student does not do that much. I just thrive on activity, which helps me to focus.

I’ve only been back at school for two weeks, so this is a great time to mention pre-season for fall sports. Pre-season takes place the last two weeks of August before school starts. Girls entering eighth to 12th grades have the opportunity to try out for junior varsity or varsity volleyball, varsity soccer and/or varsity field hockey. I write “and/or” because you can try out for all three if you’d like. According to my best friend, Olivia Kumro, who came to Chapin in ninth grade, “Going to volleyball pre-season was the perfect way to start at a new high school. It’s a great way to make friends with your future classmates and meet people from other grades. I personally felt a lot more comfortable the first day of school knowing some of the other volleyball girls in my class.” So, if you like to play volleyball or soccer or field hockey, I definitely encourage you to try out!

In senior year, instead of a year-long English course, there are three English electives offered each trimester. This fall I am taking “Medieval Literature,” in the winter I will take “Race in Literature” and in the spring I will take “Film as Text.” In most English classes, students have four to five assignments due each term. There are in-class essays, analytical essays, personal essays and “zoom-in zoom-outs,” which are an analysis of an in-depth quote or passage from a book. So far, we have had an in-class essay on A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole and on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a test on Beowulf and an analytical essay on The Canterbury Tales. We recently began reading Dante’s Inferno and will finish up the course with Milton’s Paradise Lost. I really enjoyed reading Sir Gawain and the Green Knight but did not care for A Confederacy of Dunces.

I am also taking AP Calculus AB this year and I absolutely love it. We began with learning limits, continuity/discontinuity and derivatives. Now we are working on the chain rule, quotient rule and multiple chain rule.

In my September entry, I mentioned that I love chemistry, and as a junior I took AP Chemistry, which was the hardest and best course I’ve ever taken. Unfortunately, you cannot take AP Chemistry twice, so this year I am taking AP Biology. Biology was tough for me in 9th grade, so I reluctantly signed up for AP Bio this year. However, so far I have actually been enjoying biology, which I think is because I am surprisingly doing well in it!

My other course this fall is AP Art History, which was not my first choice — I’m not crazy about history. When signing up for courses last year, I begged my advisor to let me take AP Statistics instead, but she insisted that I keep my curriculum broad and not double-up on math. But after two months of art history, I’ve come to like it. The main difference is that we’re learning history through art, not just by reading and memorizing facts and dates. It’s a lot of work, probably the most work I’ve ever had in a class at Chapin, but it’s rewarding.

Most seniors take four classes plus other activities such as peer leadership, yearbook and electives, and you’ll even find a few who take five full classes. Last year, I tried out and was chosen to be a peer leader to the 9th graders. Here’s how Chapin’s peer leadership program works: When students enter 9th grade, they are divided into groups of about nine to 11 students and are assigned two peer leaders, who are Chapin seniors. My co-peer leader Kate McElhiney and I meet once a cycle with our “peerlings,” as we call them, and run fun activities and have discussions about important issues pertaining to their lives as ninth-graders. We talk about things ranging from peer pressure to substance abuse to schoolwork.

When we are not meeting with our peer group, we and the other peer leaders meet three to four times each cycle with Ms. Sanfilippo and Mr. Hotaling, who are our faculty advisors. Together, we figure out what activities we want to run with our groups and try to solve issues that have come up in our meetings. It sounds a lot easier than it is, and I find myself doing as much work for peer leadership meetings as I do for any class I take. However, it has been an amazing experience and I am so happy I am getting to know some of the ninth graders, as well as some of the girls in my grade that I previously haven’t been close with.

Aside from school, October has mainly been filled with volleyball. We are undefeated with a 7-0 record, and we plan on keeping it that way so we can be named 2010 AAIS Season Champions, which we haven’t won in five years. We are also looking forward to the AAIS Championships, as well as the NYSAIS State Tournament. I’ll keep you posted.

This year, Chapin’s varsity volleyball team had the most successful season in the past six years. We finished as the 2010 AAIS Season Champions, with a record of nine wins and one loss. Although we did not win either the AAIS Championship or the NYSAIS State Tournament, we had many amazing memories and victories. Our most memorable and important game of the season was our triumph over Spence on their home court. Another highlight was our fierce comeback in the quarterfinal match of the NYSAIS Tournament against Poly Prep. After winning the first game and losing the second, we were down 12-1 in the third and final game. Together, as a team, we fought our way back, point-by-point, to tie the score with Poly Prep at 16-16. After this monumental comeback, we won the game 25-18. I personally have never been a part of a more dedicated, skillful and loving team. Below are some photos of the season.

Today is a glorious day. I have finally submitted all 14 of my college applications! I physically cannot type anymore, so I’m going to keep this brief. There’s the common application essay, which is an essay no longer than two pages about whatever you want. The most important thing is that it should show something special or unique about yourself. I attached my essay — click here to read it — so you have an idea of what I mean. Then, most schools require supplements; some have one supplement and some have up to four. Here are a few examples: “What is one small detail you notice that you wish others did too? (150 words)” “For some, it’s politics or sports or reading. For others, it may be researching solar power fuel cells or arranging hip-hop mash-ups. What makes you tick? (2000 characters).” These take up the most time, because you are trying to answer the question while showing the application committee why you’re different. I’ve been working on all of my essays since September, and it’s just so relieving to finally be done.

Every February, the seniors plan a semi-formal dance for the Upper School to raise money for our prom. This year our theme was “Snowball.” We bought winter-themed decorations as well as shutter shades and Mardi Gras beads, which we sold to help raise money. We invited eighth to twelfth grade students from all seven of the other Interschool schools — Brearley, Browning, Collegiate, Dalton, Nightingale-Bamford, Spence and Trinity. By the time the clock hit 9:00 p.m., there were people lined up around the block to get into the building. In the Assembly Room, everyone was dancing to music played by a group of DJs who were seniors in high school. Because the Assembly Room’s maximum capacity was quickly filled, only 330 people were allowed into the building, leaving hundreds of high schoolers wishing they could get through Chapin’s doors. Despite this glitch, the night was deemed a success. Below is a picture of the dance floor at one point:

Dance Club at Chapin is a club open to girls in Classes 8 to 12. Here’s how it normally works: eighth to tenth graders sign up to participate in dances that are choreographed by juniors and seniors. The pieces range in style from modern and ballet to hip-hop, jazz, Indian and even flamenco. In January, choreographers meet with their dancers once a week after school to teach them the dance and to rehearse. The dances are all eventually performed during the last week and weekend of April. Today was the last performance and I am in a state of depression, to say the least. Chapin Dance Club is pretty much the highlight of my year every year, and it is one of the things I will miss most about Chapin. This year, I choreographed a piece to “Alejandro” by Lady Gaga. It consisted of 12 dancers including myself and…we performed it in high heels! I also co-choreographed a piece with two other seniors, Gina Calabrese and Adie Crab, and I was also in a dance that my dance teacher, Mrs. Rutledge, choreographed. Below are video clips of two of the dances, which my dad videotaped as best he could.