Confronting My Demons (Part 1 of 6)

The Freshman





Take a left through the gates... signs at this time were boasting about their 100th year of traditions. I sat quietly and nervously on the yellow school bus that was obviously out of its element. I traveled down the same winding and heavily foliaged drive for 9 months... not once did I ever feel at ease. What lay at the bottom of the hilly drive was a world I could only see from the outside, never understand.

Finally the road flattens out and off to the left is the structure and parking area. Vehicles with brand names of Porsche, BMW and Jaguar litter the area. The building mainly plain brick and concrete from this view except for the brand new stained glass window.

Getting off the bus... my legs and knees turned to jelly. I was not supposed to be here. My obvious Sears garb was making me stick out like a soar thumb within the all BugleBoy wearing , LLBean toting Preppers. To get through the front doors I had to walk down the large concrete staired courtyard and between the coveted waiting ports. It seemed like a mile to those large front doors.

Upon entering the structure I was immediately in the largest and widest hallway I have ever seen. Flanked by black and white portraits of distinguished individuals, plaques denoting anonymous donors and trust funds and awards cases... many filled with awards about educational and scholastic excellence.. not sports. The walls seemed of thick concrete construction and the floor of flattened but extremely clean carpeting.

Just past the front doors to the immediate left is the arts wing. Band room, art room and backstage to the auditorium. To the immediate right is the sports wing. Gym, dressing rooms, showers, pool and the exit to the back paths.

I spent a lot of time in the arts wing. I played trombone for the jazz band. I was absolutely horrible at it. I also spent some months in the backstage area helping build an extremely expensive set for "Cabaret". If there was ever a time I felt in the least bit comfortable in this building, it was helping build that set.

A short walk down the large central hallway got you to the auditorium doors towards the left. The auditorium was all concrete and stadium seating with extremely comfortable chairs. It had an A/V Booth and catwalks for lighting. Policies, rules, regulations, event information and all other important information deemed by the headmaster was dealt with in this venue. Seating was assigned and yes, freshmen were in nose-bleed. All students were to report to this area dressed in proper attire (Shirt&tie/turtleneck, sport or suit jacket) by a certain time or be the receiver of a one hour detention.







Ok.. back into the main hallway. A little after the auditorium doors and to the right was what they called "monkey island". A large open are with carpeted odd shapes so that you could crumble into a ball and study or just hang out and peer out the towering windows that gave you a beautiful view of the lake. Directly across the main fairway was the locker area. Again, the freshmen had the furthest located lockers.

At the end of the monstrous hallway was stairs leading down to the extremely open and large cafeteria, giant sized concrete slabs that led you up to the second level and a small hallway that ran into maintenance, wood shop and elevator access.

The cafeteria was an interesting part of the day. Yes, seating was assigned. Each table had a faculty member that assigned jobs. Each week we would rotate who would obtain and serve the food and another person who would clean up the table afterwards. I don't remember the food very well but I do remember the French dressing giving me the worst heartburn... but it was soooo goood. This cafeteria had a awesome broad view of the lake and woods.

Up a flight of stairs and back into the main hallway we now make our way up the huge concrete stairs to the upper level. At the top you are immersed into another large open room. Along the wall to the left was a huge case that displayed hundreds of photos. Some of the photos were of distinguished graduates and faculty. One photo towards the center features my grandmother smiling happily at a typewriter. At the opposite side of the room is an enclosure of administrative offices. Basically where the Headmaster resides with all of his support staff.

Directly right of the stairs is a hallway to the History & English Wing. This is a small nondescript hallway lined with doors to extremely small classrooms. The largest history class was about 12 students. I had Western Civilization with a Mr. Aliazzi. Though he nearly failed me in every trimester, he is probably one of the most influential and eccentric teachers I have ever come across. A master of dozens of languages (reading, writing and vocal) he buried us with books and demanded only a reflection of his enthusiasm in the subjects he taught. Misspelling his name while preparing and documenting an exam gave you an immediate failing grade. I remember all the Jewish students (most of the students) raising hell the day he handed out a bible that included the New Testament as part of our required reading. In English we all sat around a board room table, we had a spectacular view of the side of the all glass tiered library section... and the only memorable part was a student got kick out of class for say"Uckfay Ouyay Illbay NielO'ay".

Taking a left and turning 180 degrees from those same central stairs led you to the brand new library wing. It had sectioned off study areas, stained glass quiet areas and a four-tiered book section. At the end of the book rows were study desks that looked out upon the same lake and woods but at a much higher level. This area was my escape because nobody could raise enough noise to bother me here. It was always extremely quiet and peaceful.

Starting back at the top of those crazy huge stairs and you walk directly across the open room and take a left took you down another hallway that split into the Science Wing, and in the other direction, classrooms that looped around back towards the library. I think I took algebra along the looped hallway and I took Bio-chemistry at the very end of the science wing. The science wing was rebuilt 2 years prior due to a student burning it to the ground. Don't worry, the parents easily covered the $2 Million price tag. If I remember correctly, I was in the classroom to the left in the picture below. In that class room we ended up working on an experiment in which we tried to change the DNA make-up of bacteria in order to make it continuously glow. I think the most we accomplished was stinking up the whole science wing with a horrible warm rotting smell.




The other wing I did not mention yet, was the Language Wing. Another set of plain classrooms and where I started my weird odyssey of Spanish. In this spanish class I learned it from a Cuban teacher. Please remember this when you read future posts.

In addition to trying to play the trombone for my forth year, I also continued playing soccer. The soccer and other athletic fields were through the Gym wing... around the lake... through another quarter mile of woods and down the hill. It was a hike to get to practice. I was never deemed good enough to get past playing the home games. That all seemed odd to me because before this experience I was always at the top of my team. Another memory from that Gym wing was in order for anyone to be able to get past the 9th grade, you had to attempt an inverted dive off their diving board. No reason why... just had to do it. It being my first time, I belly-flopped and was in a ton of pain.





I must say that while my overall experience was absolutely awful at this school, I did learn a lot about another level of status in the United States and I learned that failing was not the end, but the beginning of a different world for me. A struggle. Don't get me wrong, I did learn the subjects in the classes I was in. But the this was probably the first time I took a hard look at what was going on around me... and I didn't like it.

The only reason I was admitted into the school was because my grandmother put in 25 years of work there. A lot of the less fortunate students that did not have millionaire parents worked within the school like myself. We were responsible for cleaning the classrooms, floors and taking out the trash... at other times we were assigned to helping the administrative offices with paperwork. It wasn't hard work but it did put a target on your head. Between showing up on a schoolbus that was from a suburb 10 miles away, wearing the "wrong" clothes, not going to school with the other students k-8 in the Shaker Heights division and not having the proper education to succeed in this environment... I was fated to continual ridicule, harassment and failure.

I am glad I had the chance to have a taste of that world, but I don't ever want to be a part of it again. Even if I could afford it.

I only spent one year at University School in Hunting Valley, OH. As far as the education is concerned, it is probably the best money can buy for a teenager. I can only hope that this school can identify its faults and promote more tolerance and consideration for others. Being an all male school makes that hard to achieve.