Viewpoint: Student Perspective By Nishant D. Gurnani ’09
A Senior Voice is a graduation requirement in which each member of the graduating class is required to give a speech to his classmates. The practical purpose of this is to encourage public speaking skills. However, the Senior Voice holds a more special purpose as a farewell message to classmates. Subject choice is open, but the talk must be about whatever topic holds meaning to that senior. This past year topics ranged from hilarious stories about Middle School class trips, to the responsibilities of becoming a godfather, to the sadness of losing one’s father. The common theme, though, that ran through all of the Senior Voices was the amount of love and appreciation that we, as a class, have for this School and everyone who makes it what it is. In a gesture unheard of for young 18-year-old males, almost every member of the senior class ended his Voice declaring his feelings for his classmates with four simple words, “I love you guys.” Below is an excerpt from my own Senior Voice in which I decided to tell two anecdotes that revealed something about myself that most of my classmates wouldn’t have known.
looking one, if I might add. My entire role consisted of waiting upstage in a trashcan for the right moment when I would pounce, do a forward roll, and then burst into song with the entire cast. It was an epic two minutes of theater, two minutes that opened the door to a world that I had not previously known existed— a world of creative expression and exploration. Over the years, I have done a number of crazy things in the name of theater. I have donned a dress and played a woman on more occasions than I would like to recount. I have worn yellow stockings and paraded around in a most questionable manner, and I have learned how to juggle multiple objects while singing. Recently, I even learned how to walk on stilts while wearing a spider costume. For this, and many more reasons, I love acting. It lets me explore a different side of who I am and lets me do things I would have never done. I mean, how many people do you know who can walk on stilts? What started as forced participation in 1st grade ended up becoming a lifelong passion that allowed me to discover the non-math, non-nerdy side of who I am. Ultimately, though, acting has allowed me to meet girls, which, of course, is the point of life. Plus, let’s face it, girls are more responsive if you intro“In a gesture unheard of for young duce yourself as an “Actor,” than say 18-year-old males, almost every “Captain of the Math Team.” Actumember of the senior class ended his ally, I always introduce myself as an Voice declaring his feelings for his classaward-winning actor because I once mates with four simple words, received an award for doing it. “I love you guys.” The second anecdote of my Senior Voice is about Identity: On August 26, 2006, I depart The first anecdote is really about ed the Middle Eastern country of BahDiscovery: rain and landed at JFK. I left behind 15 I began my illustrious acting career years of my life’s memories and ended in a 1st grade production titled Rubbish. up here at Brunswick. The only person For reasons that I cannot remember, I auI knew was Mr. (Jeffry) Harris and the ditioned to play an ordinary domesticated confines of his office defined my underhousehold pet. I was a cat. A rather goodstanding of the School.
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Times of Brunswick | Summer 2009
I had imagined that these three years as an upper classman would simply go by as unimportant and insignificant in my journey to college and beyond. I couldn’t have been more wrong. These past three years have truly been the best of my life. Never have I felt the amount of love and warmth that I have felt at Brunswick. George E. Carmichael, our School founder, hit the nail on the head when he said, “Wherever you go, Brunswick goes with you.” It truly does. I wish I had something greater up here with me than my words to really express what I feel for this place and for all the people I have met here. Since I don’t, I am going to say something really cheesy, and hopefully you will be able to look beyond that and hear what I have to say. Here goes: I am an Indian. I was born an Indian and I will die an Indian. No matter how many years I end up living in the United States, I will never consider myself to be an American. I will, however, always be—for as long as I live—a Man of Brunswick. I love you guys.