College Forum: Conrad Palmer
Frank McCourt High School class of 2020
Hobart and Williams College, class of 2024
Throughout school I always had a “side hustle”, meaning I always had something to fill up my package when it came to applying for college. First it was Piano, then it was Crew. Since I was a kid I could always remember my mom saying, we need something that could help bring your college bill close to zero” or something along those lines, but what it meant was, I need to set myself apart from the rest, she didn’t care what it was, I just had to be more than just a student.
So my way of adhering to that was to be a musician, more specifically a pianist, taught by my teacher, Nelson Ojeda. Piano was one of the first times the idea of “practice makes perfect” was put into play. After 9 years of tickling the ivories, I had built a habit of only practicing the day before my lesson and squeezing in as much as I could to make it appear that I had been practicing all week long, but little did I know, I was not fooling anybody. After 9 years, I had only advanced to the intermediate level and was struggling to read music. I had waited too long and my time of advancement had passed, so being a musical scholar was not going to be enough to fill my package.
After elementary school, I had an odd start to real “independent” education. The school I went to in 6th grade was not the right fit for me, it was called Eagle Academy For Young Men of Harlem. The school wasn’t bad, it was just new and generally wasn’t the school for me. I finished my first year of middle school and found myself falling behind academically and lacking general study skills, little did I know this would affect me all throughout my education. Study Habits, a skill that I lacked, after 6th grade I went to the other school I had been accepted into, Manhattan East, my 7th grade year I was put into a class of students who had already built good habits and I was forced to catch up. I struggled in Spanish, Math, and ELA solely because I would rely on my knowledge of the topic or subject to get through tests or exams, and not study. This rarely worked and I went on to do poorly in those subjects and even received notice for my math teacher that she did not think I would be ready for the next grade. Luckily I was able to proceed to the next grade, but that was a lesson well learned.
High school is the last stretch before life really begins, so academically slowing down is not the right thing to do. I wish I turned the heat on a little later, so I wouldn't have to cram at the last minute, but regardless I finished well and where I wanted to be. High school was also the time I was introduced to Crew where I became a student athlete, and also where the saying, “don’t wait, sprint now.” But this time, it was taken more literally and I actually had to sprint all the way to the finish line. In a race, you are 1 of maybe 8 boats or ergs all racing to reach a common goal, to finish, and even better, finish in the top 3. In a way Crew is like the classroom where we all start in kindergarten, and are racing to get to our individual finish lines. In a race you have the first half of your race to build up to your sprint, but when it’s your time to go, it’s time to go, you don’t wait. Building habits can be easy, but breaking them is harder. As I look back on my education, I see missed opportunities and seized ones too, but something I wish I learned earlier was, don’t wait, sprint now.
