What I Wish I Knew in 10th Grade

by Ian Underwood (class of 2023)

SEE THE VIDEO

HUBERT WORLEY

Olivia Clapp

Mary Parker Plunkett Sarah Gregg

Jimmy Underwood Alice Ann Hollingsworth

Russ Upton Ben Johnson

Brittany Wilson

My family makes funny Christmas cards. Well, we think they’re funny. I learned a long time ago the importance of laughing at myself, and those cards (and lately, videos) remind me not to take life too seriously. So when COVID changed the way student council elections were organized by replacing in-person speeches with pre-recorded videos, I was “all in.” Years of Christmas card embarrassment might finally pay off! I decided I would teach myself iMovie and fearlessly recorded an election video for 10th grade class president... and then hope for the best.

While planning, I asked myself, “What’s important? What would my fellow students prioritize?” I felt that we as a grade should be thinking about college now instead of waiting until our junior or senior years. In my house, I’m the youngest sibling with a sister and brother currently in college, so I’ve heard for years how important it is to think about college sooner. With that in mind, I made a promise that if I were elected I would help my classmates to start planning.

When the results were reported, I was appreciative and humbled to be elected. But now the challenge began—how to fulfill my speech commitments. It was such a crazy COVID year; spring quickly arrived, with activities and schoolwork piling up, but I had campaign promises. Like most students, I get much of my advice from peers who have “been there and done that,” so I thought that gathering wisdom from recent alums would be a good idea. My initial plan was to host a live Zoom panel Q&A during activity period, but the impossibility of finding a sufficient number of busy college students who were free at 9:10 am quickly became clear.

Since everyone has become comfortable talking to a computer screen over the last year, the obvious next option was to ask alums to record themselves. I felt it was important to get differing perspectives from a range of colleges, so I contacted Ben Johnson from University of the Ozarks, Brittany Wilson from Millsaps, Alice Ann Hollingsworth and Russ Upton from Ole Miss, Olivia Clapp and Mary Parker Plunkett from Mississippi State, Sarah Gregg from TCU, and Jimmy Underwood from Harvard (he couldn’t say no!). When I watched all their responses, there was so much great information that I decided not to email them to my peers, but once again to put my iMovie skills to use!

My film editing skills are limited, but thankfully, the technical stuff wasn’t nearly as hard as choosing which parts of each video to include. I found it funny that, with no instruction, everyone started with “Hey, y’all!” Each video contained really good advice like how important using Prep’s college counseling office is, and how colleges offer lots of options when it comes to clubs and ways to meet people. And, yes, our ACT/SAT tests really are important. What I found most interesting was that almost every person emphasized time management. To be successful, you must plan your days—even scheduling time for exercise and friends! Maybe planners should be sold in the backto-school book line in August.

The final video has so much great advice. If nothing else, I hope it reminds us that it’s never too early to be thinking about life beyond Prep. If you know any students thinking about college, please tell them to look up the video “What I Wish I Knew in 10th Grade” on Vimeo. Our past Patriots have a lot to offer.

As they say in the movie biz, “That’s a wrap!”