Senior Speaker Series: Riese '20
On Monday, October 21, at Community Meeting four-year senior Riese ’20 took the stage for the first installation of the Senior Speaker Series.
The Series is an opportunity for our student leaders and the wisest most experienced members of the Vermont Academy student body to have the floor and share their thoughts, philosophies, stories, and perspectives with their peers and underclassmen.
Riese read the excerpt below from his memoir that he wrote during his junior year in AP Literature:
Riese read the excerpt below from his memoir that he wrote during his junior year in AP Literature:
By the time I had reached middle school, I had found myself amongst a group of people that would eventually become my lifelong friends. Steven, Sean, Tyler, Peter, and of course, myself, all went everywhere and did everything together. Countless laughs, good times, and lifelong memories were made throughout all of our journeys during middle school. However, knowing that I would eventually have to go my own separate way for high school, we all devised a plan to go out with a bang.
The day after graduation, we were each to bring in 2 pillows, one to use for ourselves, and another to give to a random student/teacher of our choosing, engaging in an all-out pillow war during the school day. All was going according to plan, we successfully smuggled in our weapons of mass chaos, and we had already crashed a few of our favorite teachers’ classes. It was great fun, and the teachers were enjoying it as much as we all were. As we were migrating to the next classroom, we couldn’t help but notice a rather discontent man, storming towards us, so red in the face that one might’ve thought that tomato had grown legs.
Our gig was up, and we were aware of that, but we weren’t going down without one last hoorah. We broke out into the most aggressive, dramatic, and downright epic pillow fights right then and there. As the tomato (Principal Capuano) verbally berated us with commands and threats, we were engaged in all-out warfare. While we made a valiant act of defiance against John Capuano and the fun police, ultimately we were forced to sit in an empty room with one teacher to supervise us for the rest of the school day - Breakfast Club style! Our pride was further degraded as our pillows were confiscated by Principal Cap because “they posed a safety hazard to ourselves and those around us”; Yes, he was talking about the pillows. As one last act of disrespect to us, he forbid us from going home or taking our pillows until each of our parents had come to pick us up in person.
Having grown up with him as our principal for 8 years, we naturally respected his orders until we realized that we weren’t even enrolled at the school anymore and that he had no authority over us or our possessions. Plotting an escape plan in our isolation area, Senora Mclellan, our assigned Warden, seemed quite entertained by our antics and turned a blind eye. We had always been her favorites. We drew a map and split into 2 teams. Peter and I would infiltrate the tiger’s den (the Principal’s office) undetected, and swindle our pillows right from the grasp of the man that had been our figure of authority throughout our entire childhood. Tyler and Sean team 2, would create enough of a scene to draw the attention of the principal away from his office again, granting me and Peter the opportunity to gain access. Steven would be a recon, providing live updates on our principal’s whereabouts and location in the school.
The plan was foolproof. As we left the classroom, we all said our final sayonaras to Señora, as we knew this was a one-way ticket. Peter and I got in place, waiting in the bathrooms across from the cafeteria and next to the fifth-grade classrooms, eagerly awaiting a Snapchat from Steven telling us that it was go time. We knew it wouldn't be long as we heard two banshees fly by screeching at the top of their lungs. It was Sean and Tyler, running laps around the school and screaming, hoping to get enough attention to provide us an opening. My phone buzzed.
"Mama bird has left the nest."
Peeking out, I looked both ways to make sure that the coast was clear. Peter and I made our way over to the principal's office, like slithery snakes on the prowl for prey. We stopped at the door as my phone buzzed another time, it was Steven.
"ABORT MISSION ABORT MISSION WE'RE COMPROMISED."
Stealth was no longer an option. Cap was on his way back. We didn't have much time. Practically kicking down the door, we stormed in and grabbed our merchandise. As we exited, we both looked to our left. I vividly remember making direct eye contact with our principal. His jaw dropped as he spotted 2 teenage hooligans hugging 5 pillows each. Instinctively, we turned to the right which thankfully was the front entrance/exit of the school, and sprinted as hard as we possibly could around to the back of the school, the rendezvous point. To our surprise, all 3 of the other guys were waiting for us and our plan had actually worked. We were still on school property, so we divided the pillows and walked down the two miles through our small town to Peter's house. We were greeted by his parents at the front door with huge grins spanning our entire faces.
"Boy, do we have a story for you."
Vermont Academy is a coed college preparatory boarding and day school in southern Vermont, serving grades 9-12 plus a postgraduate year.
