alumni profile

from city to country

zillian “zee” krstic ’10 appreciates a balanced approach

By John Xeller, Alumni Relations Manager/ Special Events Coordinator

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

following Monday, Zee’s mother heard from Mr. Ricci that there was a spot for Zee if they wanted it. They told Zee’s school on Wednesday that he was leaving, and he moved onto dorm in Pomfret the following week! School had been in session for a few weeks, so that was an added element to an already significant life change. It would be understandable if there were bumps along the way, and Zee admitted, “If you ask some of the faculty that are still around today about me, they’ll tell you that my first year-and-a-half to two years at Rectory were actually pretty challenging.” What was it, though, that kept him at Rectory after the time that he and his mother knew the other options they tried were not going to work?

Zee believed what made Rectory different was the “totally different mindset” on campus compared to his life in the city. It began with basic things like being outside for large portions of the day, something he was not used to in New York. One of the other major draws to Rectory was that the boarding program when Zee arrived was all boys. Zee’s mother was a single parent, and she thought the all-male-boarding environment would help Zee experience things “she couldn’t provide on her own.” Even though the boarding program went co-ed less than a year after Zee started at Rectory, he benefited tremendously from other aspects of the program over time.

Rectory was where Zee learned the value of structure, responsibility, and taking care of himself. There were adults around to provide support and guidance, but the expectation was that each student would learn to manage as much of their needs on their own as they could and then speak up if they needed help. It was an eye-opening experience for Zee, and growth did not happen overnight. He recounted the diligent efforts of Ms. Fran Morano, his dorm parent at the time. He remembered her leveling with him, saying, “This is how things go. You need to invest in yourself, take care of your room, do your chores.” Through Ms. Morano’s persistence, Zee developed accountability and started to expect more from himself as a student, athlete, and person.

The variety of offerings at Rectory, in stark contrast to the city private school he had attended, helped Zee begin to understand his identity and interests. One of the great things about Rectory, he said, was, “There is something for everyone, and there is also equally something to push everyone. It is a place where you can find out quickly what you love and what you don’t.” It was then that Zee began to value balance. One thing Zee loved from the outset at Rectory was music, and he took advantage of what he considered a “well-developed” performing arts program. He was less enthused about sports; his brief stint as a baseball player certainly did not help, but he learned a great deal about teamwork and giving one’s best no matter what as a member of the football team. There was something to do every minute of the day and night, and Zee was learning how to make the most of his time.

Zee received his first-ever report card at the end of his first term at Rectory. His New York schools had a different evaluation system, and his grades on that first report, he said, gave him a “wake up call.” He committed to applying the lessons he learned about accountability and investing in himself to his studies. He started to utilize the specialized resources available to Rectory students so that he could improve his academic performance. He did not identify a single moment in time when he realized it, but at some point around two years into his Rectory career, Zee thought to himself, “I’m actually thriving here.” That may have had something to do with why— despite single-sex boarding being one of the attractive features of Rectory’s program for Zee and his mother at the outset–the initiation of the girl boarding program only made Zee more at home on campus.

Growing up surrounded by females, Zee welcomed the shift from a predominantly male campus to a more balanced environment. The transition, from his perspective, went really smoothly. One of the benefits he noticed immediately was a broader offering of evening and weekend activities. Prior to the start of the girls boarding program, all the offerings seemed to be geared toward “getting kids’ energy out” through things like playing dodge ball for hours on end. The girl boarding program ushered in what Zee called a “reframing” of activities. Students could still play dodge ball if they wanted, and they could also choose from less physical activities, as well. Though it was hard to describe the overall impact of the new program, Zee said, “The vibe shifted. It allowed me to hang out in a co-ed space, and it felt more holistic.” The idea that Rectory became more holistic and better balanced was a recurring theme from Zee’s recollections.

As a ninth-grade student, Zee assumed several leadership roles at the school, and though his experience was positive in the end, the challenges he had to overcome remain just as important to him as his triumphs. He had to develop thick skin and become more “worldly and street smart” at a younger age than most of his peers. Of his Rectory accolades, Zee often joked with his mother that 9 out of 10 awards he won were for “Most Improved” and never MVP. The more he thought about it, the more Zee honed in on how much he changed during his time at Rectory. He summed up his feelings from graduation by saying, “I pushed myself to take advantage of every opportunity, and a lot of my weak spots had become less noticeable.” Achieving greater balance by focusing on his strengths while managing his remaining weak spots set the stage for Zee to move on from Rectory with confidence.

Zee was a model student in high school and college and often thought that Rectory gave him a “leg up,” particularly when it came to academic preparation. He managed his time exceptionally well, and thanks, he said, to the influence of Mrs. Ricci at Rectory, he pursued his passion and talent for writing through the remainder of his education and into his professional life. That experience— having a teacher recognize a gift and help it grow—Zee said, “I hope that this is the case for every Rectory student.” He mentioned also that he hoped current Rectory students maintain structure in their days because, as he said, “There is no such thing as down time. There is always something you can do that adds to your value.”

Zee lives in New York City and said that he reminds himself often to make the most of every day. He considers himself “lucky to have a really good job.” As it turns out, the balance and structure he had to leave the city to find, once attained, works just fine for Zee wherever he goes.