ALUMNI PROFILE
By John Xeller, Alumni Relations Manager/ Special Events Coordinator
from city to country zillian “zee” krstic ’10 appreciates a balanced approach
Pomfret, Connecticut, has always been a far cry from New York City even though traveling between the two places could be done in a matter of hours. In nearly every conceivable way, a person who came to Pomfret from New York City or a person who did the reverse was looking for something different. At the beginning of 2006, 11-year-old Zee Krstic’s ’10 mother knew he needed something different, and that is what brought him from city life in New York to country life at Rectory School. It was a process, but it all worked out in the end. Zee found what he needed at Rectory, and the balance he achieved here served him well each step of his journey, full circle, back to New York City.
Zee was a fifth grader when his mother first decided he needed something different from his education. He spent hours each day commuting to and from a nice but small and resourcestrapped private school. The academic program was basic, and there were no extra-curricular activities to speak of. As a first step, Zee’s mom signed him up for baseball. It did not turn out as she had planned, however, as on the day of the first scheduled game, Zee remembered, “We piled onto a bus and sat in four hours of city traffic to Randall’s Island to find no baseball team. Basically, it did not happen.” Turning her attention to the school day, Zee’s mother enrolled him at a public school on Long Island, which—looking back—struck Zee as an act of desperation. Maybe the city was the problem so “try the suburbs and see if that works.” The school on Long Island did not end up being the answer, and that was when Zee’s mother heard about Rectory School from one of her friends. It was a whirlwind inquiry and enrollment for Zee at Rectory. His mother’s friend put them in touch with Claudia and Vinny Ricci, and they arranged for a Friday campus tour. Upon seeing campus the first time, Zee said his impression was, “this is so different and cool.” The tour went well, and the 32
