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My Divine Comedy: Part II
Featured Author:
Kristin Drew
Salutations! My name is Kristin Drew. I am currently a high school senior in Jacksonville, Florida. I was born in New Jersey, but my family moved to the glorious sunshine state when I was four. Hence, I am truly a Floridian at heart. As for my family, I live as an only child with my mom and dad.
In Jacksonville, I attend The Bolles School, which is a private college preparatory school educating students from kindergarten to 12th grade. I was very pleased to join the Bolles community in eighth grade after I moved from Orlando. The nurturing faculty has challenged me to reach my highest potential with my rigorous academic courses. Furthermore, we carry a top-tier athletic program, as demonstrated by our state championships in swimming and football. Last year, Bolles celebrated its 75th anniversary where the Bolles community honored its commitment to academic, athletic, and communal excellence.
My interests include music, mathematics and debate. When I enter college, I hope to double major in math and literature while studying music. As a self-proclaimed "opera-nerd," I adore classical music and study voice as a Soprano I. With daily voice lessons, I study arias written by Mozart, Handel, Puccini and many others. As an ardent math student, I participate in Mu Alpha Theta, the math club. I always look forward to their convention in April where I compete for Bolles and literally watch nerds flock into one huge conference room. I also pursue my love of debate in the debate club, which I helped pioneer, as the Bolles captain, founder and chair.
In my spare time I love to read, listen to music, or cook. My favorite pieces of literature are "The Great Gatsby," "The Metamorphosis," "The Tempest" and "Tartuffe." I usually enjoy tuning in to classical music or alternative rock. My favorite musicians are Muse, Sissel, The Strokes, Siouxie and the Banshees, Operababes and Radiohead. As a culinary cognoscente, I enjoy creating gourmet dishes and currently have a fetish for French and Cuban cuisine.
I am ecstatic to articulate my vacillating experiences as a high school senior and hope you will savor my words to come!
A few months ago, I compared my actual application process to the “Inferno” of Dante’s Divine Comedy. However, in this phase of my senior year, I now find more parallels with the second canticle of Dante’s work, “Purgatorio.” Dante the Pilgrim now needs to wait and reflect upon his life to achieve perfection.
For example, the envious must sew their eyes closed with iron threads, and the gluttonous must longingly look at ripe orchards and refreshing water without eating or drinking. In a way, I am blind from seeing where my future will take me, and I am famished to know where I will eventually attend school. The stress of anticipation is a great weight upon my shoulders.
As I settle back into the second semester of high school, I often receive various letters from different colleges. Most of them merely notify me that they received my application. Others just remind me of due dates for semester grade reports. Thankfully, I no longer need to write extra essays, pull together recommendations, or remember deadlines.
While I appreciate the end of the application process, I am frustrated that I have to wait after so much work to receive a decision. Whenever I receive this type of correspondence from a college, I only want to shout, “Just make up your mind, already!”
While Dante uses purgatory to further reflect upon the nature of mankind, I don’t want to meditate about many matters right now. I want to move on with my life. I feel as though I am stuck in the middle of nowhere with a faint glimmer in the distance of what is to come. I must endure with patience.
However, upon looking at my schedule for school, I noticed that I have an upcoming calculus test on Friday. As I mentally wince at the difficulty of some antiderivatives, I realize that I need to focus on what I have to do now. Right now, I need to ace this calculus test. Right now, I need to keep up with school because AP examinations are inching their way closer every day. Right now, I still need to continue to concentrate on my passions despite my fatigue.
Right now, life still is happening.
