Dear Archer,

I’m writing this to you because, as much as it hurts to say it, this is my last week of high school. While the rest of the school is buzzing with excitement for summer (the beach! Ice cream! No school!), I am picturing leaving you for the last time as a student. It’s been seven years, Archer. I can’t remember who I was before I met you — And I don’t really want to remember because you, my teachers and the Class of 2017, have made me me!

So that’s why I’m writing to you, Archer. Because despite the days when all I want to do is crawl up on a library couch with a blanket or get an extra-large coffee from Belwood every half an hour to stay upright, I genuinely don’t know who I would be without you. If you have read any of my other columns, you know that I am a tad nostalgic about leaving next year. But it’s only because of the deep gratitude I feel for the school that has made me Isabel.

What other school has a beautiful courtyard, a bathtub in several classrooms, Lit&, Jane Austen Society and Belwood? What other school has advisory snack, the Oracle, a maypole and the best faculty in the country? We have Seamus, for goodness sake!

I admit it. I’m biased, but I truly cannot use words to articulate all the Archer has given me. I don’t know if I would know as much about myself and my interests without you. You’ve let me be a debater, a Jane Austen aficionado, a dab master, a columnist and more. You’ve given me so many opportunities to explore different interests and sides of myself.

All that you lack is a cat in the library. Maybe you could remedy that. I’m thinking its name should be Panther, which is pleasingly cheesy. I suppose we could go with the Greek theme, too — a Hera or a Nike, perhaps. But I digress.

When I think about the people I admire most, I no longer think of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Alice Paul or Susan Sontag (though they all are pretty cool). I think of the people that I interact with every day. I have been so lucky to go to school alongside incredibly thoughtful, intelligent, kind girls for the last seven years. When I think about who I admire, who I try to emulate, who I enjoy, it is the girls in my class.

So I guess, after all this, I have just one thing left to say. Thank you.

Love,

Isabel