Skye Patton ’23 Shares Her Experience at 2022 Open House

On Saturday, October 8, MICDS welcomed prospective families to our annual Admission Open House on campus. Senior Skye Patton ’23 shared her thoughts about her time at MICDS with the audience.

Everything is impacted by an external force. Now one could take this idea in a literal sense with, say, Newton’s Law, but today I am hoping to address the impact of one’s surroundings, of one’s experiences, of one’s community. My name is Skye Patton and I believe that I have an important and somewhat unusual story to share about how I came to MICDS. As one would expect, most students have either been attending MICDS their whole lives or chose to transition in their fifth-, seventh-, or ninth-grade years. Now, while I dared to be different by coming in my eighth-grade year, this was not my original plan. I apologize to the administration ahead of time for sharing this story, but I had actually applied to MICDS going into 7th grade, got in, and then turned this school down.

Nevertheless, six years ago, I was sitting in the exact same position you are in today. My family had decided to attend the MICDS open house to simply expand our ideas on the school, yet before we even stepped foot into the building, we were greeted by Mr. Eric Brunt (who now serves as the Director of Enrollment). At many open houses, I watched my parents talk to admissions directors while I patiently listened attempting to understand their conversations. All except one. Mr. Brunt greeted me directly and after introducing himself, congratulated me on my figure skating regional placement. I had never met him, but he had taken the time to understand me as a person even before we spoke. After the school I chose to attend for my seventh-grade year wasn’t a fit, it was that moment, that interaction, that made me apply only to MICDS.

I believe who I am as a person has been shaped by MICDS. I walked into this school as a terribly shy eighth grader, but by the end of the year, I felt comfortable enough to run for student council. Now, I am standing before you today as the Student Council Co-Head, and I can say that I am the first female class president in my grade. During my freshman year I was on the board of a non-profit organization called the Literacy Initiative and I wanted a way to involve MICDS students. After only one month of being in high school, I was able to successfully start a Literacy Initiative Club at MICDS, due to the support of both the faculty and students. Next fall, I am planning on pursuing a degree in architecture, a passion I never would have fully discovered if I had not had the opportunity to take architecture classes during my freshman and sophomore years.

MICDS is unlike any other high school. We push the mentality that anything is possible and here it feels like that is true. Every turn I have taken in my career at MICDS, every moment, I have been trailed by a line of teachers cheering me on. Whether it is my architecture and art history teacher Mr. Huber who has stood beside me throughout high school, my environmental science teacher Mr. Zahller who is probably the most passionate individual I have ever met and has forever changed how I see the world, my advisor Mr. Rueckert who I know I can talk to any time of the day (and believe me I do), or any other teacher I have ever had, they have all raised me in some way.

I have discovered more about myself, my passions, my interests, and my drive, from this school and if there is one thing I hope you take out of today, it is how truly special this community is. Everyone creates a preconceived notion in their head, whether it is conscious or subconscious. I mean, I certainly did. I felt as though if I went to MICDS in seventh grade, I would feel isolated by the difference in wealth between me and my classmates, but that is not true at all. MICDS is a big school, but a small community. You will be able to find students that relate to you in every aspect of your life whether it is socioeconomic status, race, religion, sexual orientation, culture, etc. That first conversation I had six years ago with Mr. Brunt was merely a microcosm of all the experiences I did not know I would have here.  So I encourage you to explore our school with an open mind today because I truly believe it is unlike anywhere else.