Editorial Farewell Yale University
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The Student Newspaper of Dominican Academy May 2019 / Volume 77, Number 4 Yale University Veronica L. “Bulldog! Bulldog! Bow, wow, wow. Eli Yale!” As Yale’s famous fight song 1897 blared through my computer speakers, I StudentPrints stared at the acceptance video in shock. 44 East 68th Street New York, NY 10065 www.dominicanacademy.org My heart was pounding out of my chest…a couple seconds ago out of fear, Italia! Isabella Q. Editorial Farewell but now out of pure joy. Here was the Veronica L., Kayla T., Anna W. screen that I had only seen in those viral This sophomore took a trip to Italy during Easter Break which was something college acceptance videos on Youtube, the she will surely remember for the rest of Editing Student Prints is like driving one that I had only dreamed about for the a bumper car. You spend small amounts her life. past few years. With tears in my eyes, I of time chilling out in the car, waiting ran to hug my family and frantically text for the action to come and suddenly, The realization that I was actually going my classmates the good news. A couple on the trip hit me as I rushed out the the time comes out of nowhere for an of days later, when the news actually door of DA on the last school day to run issue and hits you like a t-bone collision. settled in, I couldn’t help but wonder home and pack for my take-off the Learning how to coax our classmates for next day. Spring Break was finally here. an article and get them all on a flash drive how I got into one of the most prestigious With great anticipation I was going to the night before the deadline was truly universities in the world. Was it all luck? the embodiment of teamwork and stress spend ten days in Italy with my DA Or had all the hard work finally paid off? management. Not to mention, the time sisters. With an acceptance rate of less than we realized that the new MacBook Air’s 6% this year, I don’t really know what The journey started in the departure no longer have USB ports, oh joy! lounge at JFK on Holy Thursday where Moving on to college is a huge step for made me stand out from the over 35,000 many hugs (and tears) were shared between us and is both exciting and bittersweet. students that applied to Yale this year. girls and their families. After saying our While we are heartbroken to leave our I’m not a D1 athlete or Olympian, my goodbyes, it was time to brace ourselves DA sisters and the opportunities for parents didn’t attend Yale, I wasn’t the for an eight-hour flight to Rome that put leadership and flourishing that has been face of a social movement, and my family us in a position to take another plane ride offered to us, we know that we are didn’t donate a library or auditorium. to Venice where our organized tour would ready to face this next chapter. Student The recent university scandal should begin. As soon as I stepped outside of the Prints has reminded us that we have point to the difficulty that even extremely Marco Polo Airport and was able to take the skill set and knowledge to write and a deep breath of Italian air, I knew I was refine work in a way that is “clear and wealthy applicants have in the game of going to love it in this country. cogent” as Dr. Cagney would say. All college admissions. of the amazing articles submitted to us continued on page 2 Given the sheer amount of stellar in the last year inspired us to look out students that apply to prestigious for new perspectives and voices in our universities, it cannot merely be grades communities. and SAT scores that get you in. The The three of us agree that working on Student Prints has also been an immense copious amounts of work, the late nights privilege. It has been an experience we will studying, the dozens of practice exams... never forget. We would not have been those only get you so far. The thing that able to do this without Mr. McDermott gets you over the gates and into college and all of our fabulous writers. We are is your personality that shines through so excited to see what the future holds your essays...that ever-elusive aspect of for the paper and for the new members the “holistic” admissions process. But of the editorial board. Your new editors are blessings for the club and the school what makes you a “good” applicant in community. We know that they will make this regard? A recent VICE News piece us proud and tell the stories that need to interviewed admissions officers about be read. We always remind them that we their biases when reading applications will be DA girls far after graduation, so and advocating for certain students. One never be afraid to reach out and ask for admissions officer always roots for the StudentPrints/May 2019 some guidance from those who have been Isabella Q. at the Vatican in your shoes before. continued on page 3 Page 1 Italia! continued from page 1 A short ride with our friendly bus On our bus trip to Rome, we took an places are beautiful during the day, try driver Salvatore and a shorter boat ride excursion to Assisi, where we had a guided visiting them at night. Nightlife in Italy to Venice with our tour guide Linda tour of the Basilica di San Francesco. is very different from here in New York. was all it took to arrive at Piazza di San Pictures were not allowed. But I know I As I walked through the narrow streets, Marco. I quickly fell in love with Venice will remember the heavenly artwork inside occasionally almost getting hit by a car, after seeing the beautiful blue water on the church forever. music echoed off the buildings filling the the Canal Grande, hearing the language When we finally arrived in Rome, it air with soft tunes. The smell of delicious being spoken amongst natives and eating quickly became my favorite city. It was food surrounded me and the lights shone the delicious pizza. For the next two amazing to see ruins among the urban perfectly, lighting the pathways. Walking days, my group and I would walk around setting. During our time in Rome, we in the streets at night in Italy is like the piazza eating way too much gelato had the once in a lifetime experience walking in a dream. It was moments like and taking too many pictures near the of attending a Papal Audience where I these that made me fall more in love with water. We even got the chance to enjoy saw the real-life Papa Francesco. Being Italy, the country of my parents. a gondola ride that travelled through the present and hearing the prayers in so many On the last day in Italy, we visited small channels and eventually made its languages is truly an experience I will Pompeii. We walked where ancient way to the Canal Grande. never forget. We also had the opportunity men and women took holiday strolls Sadly, we left Venice and moved to visit the Pantheon, with its famous until the nearby Vesuvius erupted in on to Florence on what was not only oculus, visit the Colosseum, which was AD 79, preserving them in a volcanic Easter Sunday but also my 16th birthday. astoundingly and architecturally beautiful embalmment. Today, most of the ancient Florence was unlike any city I have ever and even walk where ancient Romans town has been uncovered so that in some been to. It was amazing to be standing amid once trotted in the Roman ruins. We also ways we actually know ancient Pompeii some of the most prestigious Renaissance learned that the term “All roads lead to better than ancient Rome. architecture and art. We even had the Rome” referred to the fact that all roads, After ten incredible days, it was time to chance to attend Easter Mass at Il Duomo. in fact, start in Rome. say “Arrivederci” to my motherland and One of my favorite parts of Florence was My favorite day in the streets of Rome come back home to tell of my experience the Academia, where the famous marble was when we got a guided tour of Vatican to everyone and anyone who asked (or did David by Michelangelo stands. After City. It is impossible to put into words not ask) about it. hearing so much about the masterpiece in just how beautiful everything was. From Italy was one experience in my life that history class, it was breathtaking to actually the artwork in the Vatican museum to I will always remember and hold close see it in real life. During our time in the paintings in the Sistine Chapel to the to my heart. If you ever visit Italy in the Florence, we also took a day trip to Siena, magnificent St. Peter’s Basilica including future and see someone that looks like me, where we saw Saint Catherine of Siena’s the Pieta; the only word I have to describe it probably is me. I moved there. Don’t be head and thumb, which are preserved in what I saw is breathtaking. afraid to say “Ciao”. the Basilica di San Domenico.