These past few days, although it
feels at this point like the past few years, have been spent preparing for the
quest to Quinter!
Redaction
Before I launch into what’s gone
into the preparation, the trials and tribulations of coordinating the workload
for several academic classes held in Vermont while being in Kansas, and trying
to work all the Wizard of Oz jokes out of my system, I have my first (and most
likely not my last) redaction: The previous entry featured a long rambling
paragraph about how Quinter is pronounced with a K sound like “Kinter” as in “winter.” Someone at school told me
that was how it was pronounced, however, Caitlyn has thankfully set me straight
so I don’t embarrass myself before I’ve even boarded the plane. It is in fact
pronounced Quinter with a “Qu” like
“Quite” or more pertinently, like “Quest.”
Caitlyn!
Photo Credit: Caitlyn's Facebook Page
Now that I’ve gotten that out of the
way, let me begin to discuss the most important topic of the entry and of the
trip… Caitlyn! Caitlyn is the 9th grade daughter of my host family.
The first thing Caitlyn told me about herself when I met her sometime in early
November via Facetime was that she’s shy and doesn’t talk much. I don’t think
I’ve ever had a Facetime conversation that lasted as long, nor where I didn’t
have to do a ton of talking. My first Facetime with Caitlyn was like listening
to the radio, you don’t have to do anything, you don’t have to say anything,
you just have to sit back, listen, and enjoy. After the conversation I had with
her that day I knew more about her than I do some of my friends I met in the 3rd
grade. To be completely accurate, my first ever interaction with Caitlyn was
via Facebook. She friended me, and although I had no idea who she was I saw
Kansas on her page and I assumed if I didn’t know her now I would know her
soon. Usually I would check a bit more cautiously, but this was back in the
days before I had my Facebook page reported by a cyber-bully for posting a
Botticelli painting.
She initiated a chat with me, thank
goodness, because the thought to actually talk to her didn’t ever occur to me.
Just talking to an actual person on a medium with a more immediate response
than email was comforting. There were so many different aspects of piecing
together this quest that I never stopped to ask myself how I would handle it if
I couldn’t stand my host family. Thankfully about 5 minutes after I first began
chatting with Caitlyn I knew that that would never be an issue. In fact,
talking to Caitlyn may have been the most reassuring, anxiety relieving thing I
have done throughout this whole process (considering the massive amount of time
I spent being reassured by advisors and teachers and family and friends via
email and in person, that’s really saying something!!) Caitlyn was extremely comforting for me, but the conversation my mother had on the phone with Tom and Terra was definitely one of the most comforting things for her. You know how when someone talks and you can just tell from their voice they're a good person? Well Terra and Tom have voices like that. We took their call on the way back from karate in Jaffrey, New Hampshire, in Walmart parking lot so we didn't lose cellphone reception. Terra and Tom were so reassuring that transportation and scheduling would be worked out, and that I would be happy and safe and well watched after. They even asked for a list of foods that I like. I think one of my favorite moments so far was when my mother told them I was a vegetarian up until I found out I was going to Kansas. There was a brief silence and then they said, "Well that's what makes the world go 'round." Even if I live to be 105 and develop Alzheimers I will always remember how heartwarming and nice that phone call was.
Not only are Caitlyn and her parents a great source
of information and support, she is also a genuinely interesting person, not to
mention one of the nicest people I have ever come across. I have spoken to her
pretty much every day since I first met her. Because I’ve gotten to speak with
her so much I’ve been able to learn a lot of things about her, her family, and
where I’m going.
Fun facts….
-Caitlyn likes
Cheez-Its® and Yoplait®
-She has a younger brother
(age 11) named Collin, who will have many a paragraph dedicated to him.
-She
does not like chocolate.
-She’s
an avid skier
-She
gets cold easily
-In
her words about herself “I’m not really
all that quiet” and the truth comes out!
-Her
parents, Terra and Tom, own a agricultural chemical company (T&T Chemicals®).
-She
recently went hunting with her family. (Yes I know to many people that’s not a
notable thing, but to me that completely stood out to hear about, and I think
it’s so cool, and definitely worth
mentioning.)
-Quinter
is dry, there are lots of fields and pastures.
-Cheez-It Photo Credit: Forthemommas.xom
*Bonus Factoid: When I was aggressively
hitting up Caitlyn for things I needed to know or put on my blog, I got this
text message.
“We don’t beat round the
bush, so sorry if I say something that is a little on the harsh side. I try not
to, but sometimes the truth is harsh.”
I
don’t even have words to explain how happy I was to receive that message.
Because now I will spend a lot less time second guessing things wondering if
I’m seeing the real Quinter, Kansas.
The message implies people are going to be honest with me, and quite frankly
that is exactly what I was hoping for. I know I am going to be very different
than some of the people I’ll come across (although I’m leaving my lipstick,
spiky heels, cape, ball gowns, and most of
my skull rings in Vermont) I was worried people would be too concerned with
being polite to ask me questions about my eccentricities, because I welcome all
the questions and comments people have (in most cases.) I want to be as
immersed and raw as possible.
Collin!!
For those of you who do not know, I
have no siblings. I don’t have any extended family with kids who live close by,
and I haven’t spent barely any time around 11 year olds since I was 11 years
old. So the prospect of having an 11 year old brother for a couple weeks is
exciting to say the least. Especially because this is not just any 11 year old,
this ladies and gentlemen… This is Collin.
A few fast facts about Collin (from
Caitlyn…)
-He
is a gamer.
Photo Credit: Dreamtime.com
-He
has a short temper. (Basically saying he’s 11 years old, but in different
words.)
-He
wants to know everything and anything.
None of those things surprised me.
The first time I heard from Collin, although I have yet to have the privilege
of speaking to him directly, was on my first Facetime call with Caitlyn. I was
asking basic questions about the weather in Kansas. Here’s how the conversation
went.
Caitlyn: It snowed a lot here last
winter.
Collin: What? No it didn’t Caitlyn,
you’re lying, that’s wrong.
Me: *hysterical laughter* Who is
that?
Caitlyn: That’s my brother Collin.
Caitlyn: Anyways, last winter it
snowed so much we—
Collin: NO IT DIDN’T CAITLYN!! WHAT
ARE YOU TELLING HER THAT FOR???
And
it went on and on like this and it made my entire night. But that was just the
beginning. I think the best conversation (or at least what I remember of it)
I’ve ever heard Collin carry out with Caitlyn, although in reality a little
more to himself than anyone else, was the following:
Caitlyn: Yah, skiing was great today—
Collin: Caitlyn who are you talking
to?!
Caitlyn: I’m talking to Amelia the
network student girl—
Collin: Why do you talk to her all
the time?
Caitlyn: Collin that’s so rude!
Collin: I’m just saying, we like, we
don’t even know who she is. She could be anybody… You don’t know. We don’t know
her…
Me: *hysterical fit of laughter
bordering on a laughter seizure.*
The
above conversation is what I know of Collin in a nutshell. I definitely can’t
wait to find out more about this firecracker of a person.
Coordinating
The Workload
Photo Credit: Philnel.com
The first thing I asked when I signed up for the
network program, in fact, before I had even signed up and committed, was “How
much work do I have to do for Putney classes while I am in Kansas.” Because I
felt then and still maintain now that if I would spend half my time frantically
trying to keep up with classwork it wouldn’t be worth it to sign up. And the
answer was consistent almost 100% of the time, so I assumed they had this
process of sending a student on a network trip down pat. That proved to be a
bit presumptuous on my end.
You see something I allowed to
completely slip my mind was the fact that Putney is pretty much the best school
on the planet. Because of this, students don’t ever want to leave. I am not
exaggerating a bit. I even had friends who were reluctant to leave campus for
winter break. The fact that Putney’s rigorous academics are definitely a
challenge to modify for a two week period spent off campus is already a bit of
an inadvertent deterrent for prospective Putney network students, but even the
most academically confident student would still have misgivings about spending
two entire weeks away from their sacred Putney home. I don’t blame anyone for a
single second, I know exactly how they feel. It’s two entire weeks without a
contra dance, or a hot KDU meal, or Mount Monadnock, or the international
ambassador Friday booth, no pizza night, no Sing on Thursdays… I’m just going
to stop listing things you miss off campus before I depress myself. Putney,
however, is centered around experiential learning, progressive education, and
their students going out into the world and having real life experiences. The
network school program embodies these same qualities. For that reason, among
others, I couldn’t help but dive in enthusiastically and wholeheartedly no matter
what I would miss no matter how many emails had to be sent, or meetings had to
be taken. I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into.
Because Putney students are so
reluctant to leave campus, Putney’s administration is relatively unfamiliar with
the process of students leaving campus. This was evident to me in a few ways.
A
major cross to bear in this process was, at Putney we’re doing so many great
things all at once that require all our attention there is rarely brain-space
left over to ask ourselves the seemingly simple question “Does this need to be
a meeting or can I do this over email?” Which is why I would say a good 25-30%
of the meetings I set up with various people ended up being taken care of over
email, or with a telephone call. In turn, however, I am now attempting to piece
together things via email that called for hour long meetings that should have
been held weeks ago.
My
biggest question to everyone, as I said before, was “What work exactly do I
need to get done in Quinter and what materials do I need to do it?” At Putney
when we do something we go all in and all our cards are on the table. Because
we throw our entire selves into most all of our projects, it is a painstaking
process to get teachers to try to think into the future about what projects
will be assigned. Putney’s progressive approach enables students and teachers
to be to go at their own pace. This is a blessing 99% of the time, because 99%
of the time you aren’t on a network trip. So when I tried to be proactive and get
my work assigned a couple weeks in advance, my teachers were faced with the
impossible question of “Where will the class be in two weeks?” If we’re picking
up on a unit particularly quickly we may finish it a week in advance, and I may
end up being assigned completely different work than the class ends up on, etc.
I tried very hard to be proactive and sit down and figure out a solution, but
everyone is going so fast and hard at Putney that trying to get them to give me
work weeks in advance was the equivalent of driving a freight train down the
tracks barreling through at 150mph, then suddenly slamming on the emergency
breaks. You know what you end up with? A train wreck. Which is exactly what I
was caught in over the past few days until my guardian angel advisor Karla came
on the scene. Karla is an advisor and a theater teacher, actress, director, and dean of faculty at The Putney School.
Karla Baldwin
Photo Credit: Theputneyschool.org
Whenever
any of Karla’s advisees is having a problem of any sort, she is always a first
responder. She is decisive, efficient, and effective. I could not have asked
for a greater advisor, nor could I have asked for better help and advice about
what to do about the workload in Kansas and the lack of time to plan.
Let
me back up for a second.
The
day before New Years Eve I received an email from a teacher of one of my core
academic classes, detailing the work I was expected to complete over my time
Kansas. Now that this was the top item on their plate, they followed Putney
tradition closely and sent me a well thought out, thorough email, throwing
themselves into it entirely. Unfortunately communication about this trip broke
down a bit because, despite my best efforts, I can’t control time. It is hard
to get people to think seriously about a trip on January 5th when
its almost winter break and January 5th is still weeks away. The
problem was, when school ended on December 21st my communication
window closed all but a small sliver. But with papers to be graded, classes to
be managed, and vacations to be scheduled, it was near impossible to get anyone
but Karla thinking seriously about the trip. In fact, when I approached one of
my teachers a final time before school ended, they claimed they didn’t even
remember my telling them I was going to Kansas, despite the 4 separate in
person meetings we had. This is just how focused and involved things get, if
you’re in the zone on a project (which you are most of the time you’re at
Putney) the rest of the world just fades away. As aforementioned the Putney
School is a utopian society for me, I hated middle school, Putney dropped down
out of heaven and into my life. The focus and drive and whole-heartedness are
at the top of my list of favorite Putney qualities—when I’m doing anything accept a network trip.
Photo Credit: Network of Complimentary Schools' Facebook Page
To
make a long story short I received an email three days ago in response to an
email I had sent about 10 days before that begging for my work to detailed to
me. The email listed the work the teacher assigned, it listed almost exactly
the same work I would be doing if I just stayed in Vermont.
When
I asked over and over again the question of workload to the top people in the
school and the network program at Putney, I got the same answer.
“You
will complete classwork that is deemed absolutely
necessary for the course and will be excused from anything else, as this trip
is about immersion and learning about the school and the culture. You’re going
to Kansas to be in Quinter and immerse yourself, you can’t be in two places at
once. Putney will be right here when you get back, when you go to Kansas you
will throw yourself into it entirely.”
That
summarizes what everyone had to say, which is in keeping with Putney way, no
matter what you’re doing giving it your all. I am fighting hard to not let
Putney nor Quinter down. I will get the work done that I can, but definitely
not everything that was originally thought to be realistic. The bottom line is
I am spending two weeks in Kansas and it won’t be worth it if I don’t trust the
Putney running through my veins and give it my best shot. My advisor is
absolutely right, I can’t be in two places at once. It was originally suggested
by the friendly people trying to help me ease my anxiety (clumsy words cannot
express how anxious I was about keeping my commitments to Putney and to Quinter
without having to half ass anything ‘pardon the French.’) It was difficult for
me that even after weeks of begging for information on what I had to complete
so I might complete some work in advance, I only received this email three days ago (I depart in two days.)
In the words of statistician and author W. Edwards Deming:
“It is not enough to do your best; you must know
what to do, and then do your best.”
I agonized for days on how I
was going to get everything done, but thanks to the kindness and support of my
advisor Karla, I learned my teachers ears are opened much wider than I first
had thought. They are much more flexible and open than I had first thought. It
was a relief and a learning experience managing this ordeal, but I would do it
all again times ten. It’s worth it for the once and a lifetime experience I am
about to have. Depending on the weather I will be attending cattle auctions,
seeing miniature ponies, and more. It will be an epic two weeks!
Packing, Prepping, and
Breathing
Photo Credit: Iluvprovidence.com
I did all my packing last night. I squeezed two weeks worth of wardrobe,
plus outerwear for agriculture, plus lots and lots of knitting supplies into
two suitcases. This would never have been accomplished without the help of my
devoted mother who stayed up until 4 in the morning helping me pack and repack
and try on and stuff and stuff and stuff all my stuff into my bags. Not to
mention spending two hours helping me to update and work out the technical
kinks in my new phone which she spent hours tracking down for me in a store in
New Hampshire. Also not without my father who despite preparing for his
weeklong excursion to NYC which he left for today, managed to drive to New
Hampshire, purchase my phone, help coordinate the workload with Putney, and
drive over two hours in a snow storm to leave my tremendous advisor some
champagne at her doorstep only to discover she wasn’t home. (By the way happy
anniversary Karla!) We some how managed to make it here alive and well and not get
caught in any catastrophic winter storm despite CNN’s predictions (it is not
even snowing here.) I have plans to see my best friends from Rhode Island whom I haven't spoken to in months, I can see the Narraganset Electric Smokestacks (pictured above), and I don't have to type in the area code every damn time I make a phone call, all is well in the world. And now it is 3:03 AM in the world (Northern American part of the world at least) and I am going to get some sleep and brreeeaaaaattttthhh.
Thanks for reading and stay
tuned for more as I forge ahead on my Quest To Quinter!
--Amelia<3
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