WMA ALUMNI: REFLECTION
By EMILY DROMGOLD ’17
‘WMA heard me and that made all the difference’
• Emily Dromgold ’17 while studying in Cork, Ireland.
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a strong personal connection to Ireland. I now understand my mosaic of a self not as broken, but as something worth celebrating, nurturing and sharing through my poetry and prose. Even though I am out in the world now, I look back and know WMA was the first community to bring the world to me. In that world, I was celebrated, cared for and safe. I learned what it was like to truly be heard. At WMA, my friends and I exchanged international snacks and stories from home. We traveled back to China, Brazil, Cape Cod, the Netherlands, Russia and more together through the caramel overtones of stroopwafels, homemade stir fry, white rabbit candies or all those memories that ended in laughter. We studied together in Mattern. We walked as fast as possible from Rich lobby after lunch to next period (the chicken giuseppe was the best, especially when Ms. Heanny served it since she always had the biggest smile). We caught our uniforms from Mr. Weeks, said hi to Mr. D on the way up hen I think of WMA, I think of home. There’s the hill, straightened our pins on our blazers and contributed a rush of warmth in my chest accompanied to the waves of chatter before school meeting started. We by a soft ache remembering those first days celebrated a tennis match win with Coach Jay over a box of when I found a community where I belonged. WMA helped clementines and laughter. I struggled in Algebra 2, but nurture the voice that would eventually create the language Mr. Lombard didn’t give up on me and I ended up enjoying needed to speak my multifaceted identity into being. This math. We pet Mr. Cook’s dog, Rufus, outside of Rich. We year culminates into the first page of that story starting with challenged Hobbes and Locke, dog eared pages of The Jungle, a reclaiming of my name(s) and love for my whole identity. My name is Emily Dromgold ’17. 我中⽂的名字是锡萍芳。 dissected strawberry DNA, interrogated the world, made the world a little better by asking for more. More inclusivity. I publish under Emily Anna King to honor my grandmother More kindness. More curiosity and adventure. and strong women in my life. I still carry warm memories of every teacher at WMA who I am a writer. I am an educator, musician, an athlete, a made me feel like I could be better without ever making me jiujitsu student, a baker, an adventurer. Most importantly, I am feel like I wasn’t already enough. They read my rough drafts human. I am currently pursuing my MA in Creative Writing of poetry between classes. I remember their wit and kindness at University College Cork in Ireland. While my work covers and brilliance poured over cups of black coffee. Ms. Krassin a wide range of topics, I make space to negotiate identity, place and how we can cultivate a sense of belonging on our own gave me a book that taught me to bend genres and limitations I placed on myself. Mr. (Sean) McGrath ’07 taught me about terms. Being a transnational adoptee, my heritage is Chinese, the art of concision. Mr. (Tim) Harrington ’73 reminded me to my culture is Italian, German and Irish American, and I have
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AC ADEMY WORLD SPRING 202 2
