多诺万·图尔克，23岁

今年寒假的一天, my mom and I were in the car going to pick up my brother from school. 问她我教堂演讲的主题应该是什么, 她说, 她脸上带着假笑, “谈论我吧.“好了，妈妈，你如愿以偿了. 

我长大的家在早上总是很忙. Going back to when I was in first grade and my brother was in Pre-K, I remember my mother’s voice projected into our room telling us to wake up for school. 尽管是很久以前的事了, I remember the exact process I would go through every morning to go to elementary school. Between my brother and me, I would usually be the first one to wake up and take a shower. 我们会在这个小农场吃早餐, kiddie table that separated the dining room from our living room. 等我坐下来吃烤好的蛋饼的时候, 尼古拉斯会洗完澡出来. His lax approach to getting ready prompted many shouts from my mom, encouraging him to hurry up. 外面的天气越冷, the more difficult it was for my mom to force my brother and me to put on multiple layers. 这只是推迟了我们上学的时间. 

在我们走向汽车的路上, 我看到我妈妈手里拿着好几个包, and wonder how in the world she could carry that much stuff. 一旦上车, I watched in awe: my mom skillfully outmaneuvered slow drivers, 急转弯穿过车道, 在化妆的时候. 然后我妈妈会突然停下来, 让我和弟弟在学校门口下车. 我看到我妈妈从我的视线中消失了, occasionally passing through a red light if she was in a rush. 

My mom did more for me than I did for myself those mornings. She was the one who put the waffles in the toaster right before waking me up, timing it perfectly so that it would pop soon after I got out of the shower. She assembled my outfits and laid them on the couch every morning. While preparing for her own day at work, she was getting me and my brother ready as well. Since then, I have marveled at her ability to multi-task and operate efficiently under pressure. In fact, it’s been something I’ve tried to replicate in my life. 我妈妈代表了我对努力工作的看法. 

Having the opportunity to attend middle school in Manhattan prompted a change in my morning routine. My commute went from a simple five minute car ride to an hour and a half bus ride depending on the traffic. 但我很幸运能和我父亲一起做这件事.

每天早上五点半左右, I quietly leaped from the top of my bunk bed so as to not wake my brother at the bottom. 每天早上同一时间，在同一位置, I saw my dad with his razor in hand and  with shaving cream lathered on his face. 他总是第一个醒来. Rather than eating an Eggo waffle for a quick breakfast, I had more time to make myself eggs. In case I was running late, my dad was the first to walk to the bus stop on the corner of our street. 我记得有时候我不得不逃跑, seeing my dad slow his walk onto the bus in order to delay the driver. 在巴士上，我爸有他的系统. 他花了一半的时间坐公共汽车, 读他的书, 通常是詹姆斯·帕特森或斯图尔特·伍兹的小说. 一旦我们到达市中心隧道进入城市, he put his book back into his backpack and shut his eyes until the bus neared his stop. Before getting off at his stop, he would make sure that I was awake to get off at the next stop. On the way home, if we were lucky we would catch the same bus. 

My dad has worked at the same hotel for nearly twenty-five years now. Before and during my three school years with him, his routine never changed. I would see him go to bed way before me in order to get enough rest to prepare for his next twelve hour work day. 作为一个小孩子, I threw tantrums when he worked an overtime shift and refused to take any sick days. 我很感激他今天来了. As I grew older, though, and I got a job myself, I realized why he made such sacrifices. 他工作不仅仅是为了养活自己, 但他努力养活身边的人, 他关心的人. 我的父亲是我心目中始终如一和充满激情的工作. 

我在家上学的时候, I succeeded in approaching my habits and schoolwork the same way I saw my parents approach their work. However, when coming to Groton, I sensed a change in my environment. In order to fully immerse myself in the boarding school experience, I felt that I needed to distance myself from my life back home, 包括我的父母. In doing so, I unknowingly abandoned the lessons and values I had admired from my mom and dad. It wasn’t until the first time I went back home for Thanksgiving break that I recognized what I had lost. After seeing my parents for the first time since leaving, everything came flooding back to me. 

It wasn’t just the work ethic that my parents instilled in me. It was my mom’s capacity to cry at any given moment that taught me it was okay to express emotion. It was my dad’s lighthearted attitude that taught me not to take things so seriously all the time. And it was a mix of the two that expanded my music taste towards Rock ‘n Roll and R&B. 但和他们在一起很好, I realized it was not their presence that I felt was missing at Groton. The values I modeled my day after at home were the same values I should have been prioritizing at Groton. 一旦我开始这么做，我就又找回了自我. I felt like a true part of the community, a community that thrives on each other’s differences. 

Many of you may see Groton as a fresh start and that is totally understandable. But it is easy to lose sight of your past in response to building a life at Groton. What I am trying to say is to not forget where you come from. ,兄弟姐妹, parent or parental figure that raised you or that you grew up with should be an essential part of your present and future, 不仅仅是你的过去. The lessons and experiences you absorbed from them before coming here are a large part of who you are anywhere and who you will be. 即使你认为易胜博app安卓下载是一个新的开始, the mistakes you made in your life outside of this place can be learned from and applied here. The values you hold outside of this place should be the same ones you hold within the Circle.