Senior Reflection: Seth Marksberry

When I came to The Gatton Academy, I didn’t know what to expect. I knew Gatton was a place known for great scholarship and a community like no other. Having graduated, I now know what the Academy really offered to its students. Yes, the community was full of great students who always looked out for each other, and any student can attest to the high academic standards everybody holds themselves to. There was, and surely still is, something else to the Academy which is rarely observed by the public.

Like many in my class, I was warned time and time again by senior students and staff that Gatton challenges even the best students. “You’re going to have to study to do well,” they repeated over and over again. And I believed them. I tried to never get (too far) behind on my work. My first semester went well, and I couldn’t help but think it really hadn’t been that hard. Sure it was a challenge compared to what I would have been doing at my home high school, but this was not the monumental challenge college was supposed to be. Perhaps this was easier than everybody made it out to be.

Three subsequent semesters, two research projects, and countless late nights spent studying firmly disproved me. The classes got harder, and I had to adapt and work at my classes like never before. I learned there is no such thing as an easy college experience and that learning at that level requires a lot of hard work no matter what caliber of student you are. Thankfully, none of us had to go through these experiences alone.

My graduating class consisted of fifty-eight of the hardest-working high school students in the Commonwealth, but this was not what we thought about each other. Those fifty-seven people who walked across the stage with me became my family. These were the ones who were up late with me when there was an important test the next day. When one of us didn’t understand what an integral was, there was always somebody close by to help. Sure there were arguments, but there was also camaraderie, sincerity, and several terrible puns.

There is still one aspect of the Academy few really realize until pomp and circumstance begins to play. Gatton has an attitude. Not an attitude problem, but an attitude. A spirit, if you will. Gatton is a place where microbes can be considered pets, it’s alright to approximate the speed of an unladen swallow, and where people calculate whether or not the sky is actually the limit as ambition approaches infinity. At Gatton, I found people who are legitimately excited about science and wanted to create a better future. This is the essence of the Academy: a group of smart students who aren’t afraid to care.

Gatton for me became a place I wasn’t afraid to explore the world of science and where dreaming big was encouraged rather than laughed at. My home high school tried to indoctrinate me with the belief that the purpose of high school was to take classes, pass tests, and get an okay job like everybody else. An aspiring engineer like myself struggled to find any real encouragement to pursue such lofty dreams. Gatton helped me turn my dreams into goals and taught me to never give up on them. For that, I owe The Gatton Academy my eternal gratitude.