Katey Gillispie's Blog

Katey Gillispie is a junior at Dunn, having enrolled this year. We asked her to keep a blog of her thoughts and activities as she goes through the year.

Life as a Lesson

Yesterday our girls’ Varsity basketball team traveled down to Santa Barbara to play against Laguna Blanca. An hour before game time thirteen girls, including myself, dressed in jerseys, sweat pants, and Uggs, sprawled out on the grass as we waited for the Surburbans to roll in and pick us up. Excitement inspired by our close game against Cate late Monday radiated like heat around the team, creating steam that rolled off our backs into the cold. Big smiles reached across every girl’s face; a sure sign of our confidence that we would play hard. During the car ride down, we pumped up our energy and danced to our team captain Nicole’s play list. As we got closer to Santa Barbara our Coach, Ms. Powell, announced she had a discussion topic for us to chew on. Ok so one of the reasons I love both being in basketball and living in the dorm, are the random chats with Ms. Powell that spring up every now and then. Whether she’s there to sit back and help bring clarification to my thoughts about relationships or work through academic stress, she always has good advice to share and never hesitates to offer a new perspective.

This day however she wanted our perspective on what we thought about people making mistakes in life and what we thought they should do about it once they had. Each girl in the van piped in about the morals they had for themselves and we tossed the conversation around for sometime. The truth is, life is about learning and growing and in order to stretch ourselves we often have to make a few mistakes along the way. The hardest part about having a lapse in judgment is when you end up hurting someone else in the process. However, the opportunity to really look at your mistake and find a way to repair the hurt is truly an amazing gift we are given in life. The actual isolated event may pass on and eventually fade to become no big deal; but the way a person decides to handle the aftermath of their actions can determine so much about their own personal growth.

This applies to all areas in our lives that need development. When you make a mistake on a quiz the decision to throw away the test out of anger or frustration versus sitting down with a teacher in order to learn from your errors can determine your future success in the subject, but it can also determine how responsible and mature a person you become. Or in relationships, if you make a mistake and then turn away out of embarrassment or shame instead of taking ownership for your actions by reaching out to the other person in order to reestablish a connection, you could loose out on a very important growing opportunity. Not to mention you could miss out on that relationship. And in basketball, if you’re passed the ball and find yourself open to the basket with three girls running at you from the opposite team and you suddenly freeze, it’s important to realize what went wrong so that next time you’ll make the basket. Chances are if you work at it and continue to adjust and practice you will make that shot and it’ll feel amazing because you’ll know you’ve achieved something by deciding not to give up on your mistakes.

Our basketball game was absolutely fantastic. We were tied neck and neck all the way to the middle of the fourth quarter, our girls played with utmost enthusiasm and skill. Although we lost by just a few points, the game was most definitely a win in our minds. Why? Because from the start of the season to that game, the girls on our team have taken the areas that we knew needed the most help and have worked hard to become better athletes; learning from what we had done wrong in the past. And let me tell you, it paid off immensely. Our next game is this coming Wednesday and once again we’re up against Cate. Maybe we will take the little adjustments needed from our game against Laguna and apply them to our game against Cate to come out with a victory. However, I’ve learned that the true win comes when you’ve done your best to simply do your best. If you take the things you do well and combine them with what you have left to work on in order to expand your knowledge, your skill, etc, in the end you’ll become a bigger, more well rounded person because of it. That in of itself is a wonderful victory in my mind.

Looking Forward

Happy New Year!! Each year it seems the New Year celebration becomes even more precious, even more enjoyable for me. Perhaps the reason is I have simply stepped into a part of my life where I am able to appreciate taking time off from working hard and just relaxing into a warm and cheery atmosphere. Or perhaps I have begun to enjoy New Years more and more because I have grown to see how quickly life changes from one phase to another; how marvelous time really is. Whenever a new January comes along, I am always shocked at how much I have crammed into the amount of time that makes up one year. While the distance between one New Year’s Eve to the next doesn’t seem very long when you string them together in your mind (like Christmas lights- each illuminating particular memories, sparkling and shining); the time in-between can sometimes feel enormous.

For me, the beginning of 2010 will stand out in my mind for many years to come. Perhaps, like I said before, it’s simply due to my appreciation of time that I am embracing the New Year will such excitement. However, it is the friendships I am taking with me into this new year that seem to make the ending of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 the most memorable. Although I am leaving very good year in the past, I have made incredible friendships here at Dunn in this past semester. I know these friendships will deepen even more as we embark on the fast approaching second semester and flourish with the adventures yet to be discovered.

Within minuets of stepping back onto campus after the Christmas break I was jumping up and down, laughing and screaming with my roommate; seemingly about nothing more than the gifts we got, the hair cuts we acquired, the fun we had- when really we were just so happy to be back. It was then that I realized that although this coming semester may very well be the most difficult in my high school career, I have established those relationships that will carry me through and make the climb easier. So while I feel as though I am bursting with relationships and friendships - I have decided that my New Years resolution will be to befriend even more people here in our school.

I found that opportunity sooner than I expected at our first family style dinner last Monday. It was a particularly special meal because it was the Taiwanese dinner hosted by the Dunn Tai community. These students had spent months preparing and organizing the atmosphere, the menu and some information to share about their culture so that we might experience a taste of what their lives are like back home. Sitting at my table with the head of school and several students I hadn’t had the opportunity to spend a lot of time with, I was able to connect with each person on an individual level. I felt at home in the cozy dinner hall and happy to be sharing the experience with my peers. The food was wonderful and I learned (after several failed attempts) to use chopsticks, thanks to my Chinese friend Sophie, which was extremely exciting. I love family or formal dinners because everyone is altogether at once. You can look around and see the cheery conversation floating from table to table and you can feel the union the moment creates.

There are precious few on this planet who are blessed with the privilege of ever living in a community like the one here at Dunn. Sure - just like with all congregations of people - a living community has its fair share of difficulties. But what it really comes down to are those unifying, unique moments where you know you’re lucky to be a part of something bigger than you are; something as special as kids getting up and sharing parts of their identity with you. I plan to take any opportunities available to continue finding my place within this special family. While I may only have two years at Dunn, it is my intention to experience the people who are here with me to the fullest extent possible- because what could be more rewarding?

Life Long Learner

The day light hours have slipped to a minimum and crisp winter winds have forced us to put away our flip-flops and are a reminder that summer is far behind and the end of the first semester is near. Halloween came and went in a foggy haze. Flickering jack-o-lanterns lit the early evenings along each dorm walkway before they too rotted away and succumbed to the closing of October. November began and as we crept closer and closer to Thanksgiving Break, I began to feel an excited tension build among the people on campus. This past weekend was a testament towards the large amount of fun that takes place here at Dunn when everyone is in the mood to spend time together and simply celebrate life. Homestead dinner was Friday, a tradition I thoroughly enjoyed being introduced to. The day students opened their homes to a group of boarders for an evening so that they might enjoy a home cooked meal, off campus social time, and the chance to relax and feel nurtured in a real “homey” environment. I and several of my classmates were invited to spend the evening with a lovely family who helped us make homemade pizza’s in an authentic, outside pizza oven (something I had never done before, and if you haven’t either, I highly recommend the experience) talked with us about our lives, and even let us venture into their hot tub for almost two hours! Besides the meal being exquisite, I thoroughly enjoyed getting to know both my host family and the other boarders on a more personal level. I fell into bed that night feeling full to the brim with good food, good conversation and good friendships.

With the morning came another long day, busting at the seams and spilling a long list of things to do before the Junior Class event that night at my feet. I rushed over to the dining hall for an early breakfast, (well, early for the weekend anyways) before slipping into the kitchen to help a few of my classmates cut fruit for the shish-kabobs we would be serving that evening. Tribal theme, along with the fruit snacks there would be a bon fire, somores and face-paint!

The day faded quickly and sooner than expected I was huddled up against the cold, making my way towards lower campus and the biggest bon fire I had ever laid eyes on. Several students, faces glowing in the firelight, stood close to the flames enjoying the massive waves of heat that spread out over them while others sat in the grass with blankets and chatted softly. Some kids had grabbed glow sticks and were running around in the dark, chasing one another, leaving streams of color waving through the night. Numb from the cold, I sat down close to the fire and was soon engaged in several lighthearted conversations with my friends, laughing and chatting playfully. The fire seemed to touch my skin and melt away any stress that I had been carrying from the week’s hard work. As the night grew darker and the logs on the fire crackled softly and broke apart, Mr. Lowe stood, cleared his throat and began to tell us a story. A well-respected man, a deep hush washed over the group as each person listened attentively to his tale. The smoky threads of his words wound gently around each person, drawing them in and tying them closer to one another. He spoke of how knowledge of every kind is important and when used to its greatest advantage, it can even save your life.

His words intrigued me, and I began to think about what it really means to be a life long learner. Sure, we learn something new everyday- or so the saying goes. But how wonderful our world is, that it has endless opportunities to continue to discover truths about ourselves and of the world that we might never have even imagined possible. A teacher of mine recently shared his wisdom with me while responding to a journal entry I had written about what it meant to loose a part of ourselves through the process of growing up. He wrote “The joy of youthful innocence and ignorance that we work so hard to grow out of and that society works so hard to train us out of, needs to be preserved in small quantities and revisited regularly. I have tried to accomplish this by keeping a love of learning alive inside of myself.” It is true, that within our lives we tend to stop asking as many questions, and start assuming that we know all there is to know, at least that of which is of importance to us. (Even if we would never admit to that, we all come to a place in life where we just know we’re right.) However, by feeding curiosity instead of diminishing it, is the key what I believe to be a truly fulfilling life. Considering that I have dedicated hours and hours to learning here at Dunn, I hope I’m on the right track! As for right now I’m just thankful for the open and thoughtful minds that surround me, both from my peers and my teachers here at our school.

One Step at a Time

Upon arriving here at Dunn as a new junior, I was immediately welcomed by a warm and relaxing energy that seemed to seep from every corner of campus. After what seemed like an instant, I was swept up into a whirl wind of preparation for the Junior Class Trip. One hundred oatmeal packages, three bags of chocolate chips, ten pounds of tortillas, one decorated group flag, and three packing jobs later we were off with our entire class piled into several white suburbans. It was a trip that would completely change my life, in ways I was most definitely NOT expecting. As a new member of the Dunn community, I can honestly say that I was without a doubt a complete wreck before the trip. Terrified of what lay ahead of me, I tried to hide my shaking knees from my peers. Gulping down my fear I focused on the positive things in the present moment; a trick I found worked well throughout the entire trip. While practicing this nifty technique, I learned that often times the big picture is just too huge to handle all at once. Look up at a mountain and see it as one giant step, and it will most defiantly be too big of a leap. However, in reality that mountain is made up of a hundred different boulders, a hundred different steps, which when thought about, is a much more reasonable image to digest. Anyways, before I knew all of this, I was freaking out. How could I possibly make it through this trip, and summit a mountain to boot??

After eight days of hiking through the wilderness, drinking vast amounts of iodine laden water, sleeping four girls to a tent for warmth, and going endlessly without showers, I made it to through to the last night and to my solo. Gathering my only remaining clean shirt that I had been saving as a treat, my reward candy bar, and my journal, I was placed in a solitary nature spot to spend the afternoon resting and reflecting back on my experience. I sat in a small clearing of high grass which was surrounded by several old, swaying trees. A clear brook bent softly in an arch around me before leaning away towards the enormous, white mountains that rose up in the distance. I lay looking up at the sky and breathed. I let my muscles relax and my thoughts slow. Shocked, I realized tears were rolling down my cheeks.

¨What’s this? ¨ I thought. ¨Tears? Oh geeze.¨ I sat there, completely frustrated with myself. ¨Why was I crying? ¨ But then it dawned on me. Looking back over the past week, I realized just how much I had pushed myself, and how much I had grown. I had accomplished things I never thought were possible of myself. Independent and strong I had carried eighty + pounds on my back up one of the highest mountains I had ever laid eyes on. I had conquered my fear of heights, scaling a rocky mountain side at night with only the light of the stars above and the beam of our head lamps to guide us. And as the sun rose I stood at 13,000 feet atop of the summit, my heart racing, and my fists in the air. I had made it. And I had made it well. Surely, that kind of achievement was worth of few tears of joy and relief. Around the last campfire, all the juniors sat together and we were asked to reflect again on what we had learned and accomplished so that we might apply our new skills back home towards creating a successful school year for ourselves.

Since our return two fast months have come and gone. Someone very wise once said ¨Time flies when you’re having fun.¨ Time also flies when you have a million activities and wonderful people to engage with from morn till dusk. Dunn faculty has been true to their word; junior year is most defiantly a challenge. It sometimes feels as if yellow highlighter ink bleeds from history pages onto white volleyballs that bounce into dining halls and knock over paintbrushes that spill into room inspections which jump into formal dinner high heels, who walk into café doorways, that swing on loose hinges and knock into books full of grammar who yell their way through our calendar pages which weigh more than we do combined. However, despite the speed at which my days rush by, the depth with which my mind is expanding is amazing. I can write an essay, eat Oreos, and talk about boys with my friends. All as I browse through college broachers and think about what I’m going to be for Halloween! Amazing! I am learning to find my rhythm, one step at a time. So while I lay curled up in my blankets on this brisk October night, I will choose to stop and breath. I’ll let my muscles relax and my thoughts slow. Because I know that I’ll make it. And no matter how well prepared I am for the adventures that lie before me I can trust that with one foot in front of the other, and with the support of those around me, no task is too large. That and also, when I finally make it to the top- the view is absolutely unreal.