Academy World Spring 2022

‘WMA heard me and that made all the difference’

When I think of WMA, I think of home. There’s a rush of warmth in my chest accompanied by a soft ache remembering those first days when I found a community where I belonged. WMA helped nurture the voice that would eventually create the language needed to speak my multifaceted identity into being. This year culminates into the first page of that story starting with 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。 I publish under Emily Anna King to honor my grandmother and strong women in my life.

I am a writer. I am an educator, musician, an athlete, a jiujitsu student, a baker, an adventurer. Most importantly, I am human. I am currently pursuing my MA in Creative Writing at University College Cork in Ireland. While my work covers a wide range of topics, I make space to negotiate identity, place and how we can cultivate a sense of belonging on our own terms. Being a transnational adoptee, my heritage is Chinese, my culture is Italian, German and Irish American, and I have

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 the hill, straightened our pins on our blazers and contributed to the waves of chatter before school meeting started. We celebrated a tennis match win with Coach Jay over a box of clementines and laughter. I struggled in Algebra 2, but Mr. Lombard didn’t give up on me and I ended up enjoying math. We pet Mr. Cook’s dog, Rufus, outside of Rich. We challenged Hobbes and Locke, dog eared pages of The Jungle, dissected strawberry DNA, interrogated the world, made the world a little better by asking for more. More inclusivity. More kindness. More curiosity and adventure.

I still carry warm memories of every teacher at WMA who made me feel like I could be better without ever making me feel like I wasn’t already enough. They read my rough drafts of poetry between classes. I remember their wit and kindness and brilliance poured over cups of black coffee. Ms. Krassin gave me a book that taught me to bend genres and limitations I placed on myself. Mr. (Sean) McGrath ’07 taught me about the art of concision. Mr. (Tim) Harrington ’73 reminded me to

organize my ideas and remember each verb, adjective and subject functioned as more than one layer. Ms. Mitchell ’04 taught me every piece has worth and deserves to be seen for its potential. Ms. Hutch said my idea was brilliant even when I didn’t think so. Mr. Moran asked more from the meaning of the piece and where my ideas were rooted. He taught me to interrogate my writing and the world, and that curiosity is a gift when balanced with reason and imagination. WMA heard me and that made all the difference. I hope to do the same for my own students. Besides my current studies, I am teaching online due to COVID-19 restrictions. I teach English, ESL, Elementary Mandarin and other elementary school subjects to students across the globe online, ranging from kindergarten level to adults returning to university. I’m grateful to help my students find their voice and lean into their own potential. I’m also grateful to have my own voice heard in places such as Tír na nÓg, Massachusetts Best Emerging Poets 2019 (Z Publishing), Pamplemousse, Lily

Poetry Review, Paragon Press and Otherwise Engaged Journal. While I am proud of publication, it is the power to write myself into being that brings me the most joy—and WMA helped nurture the voice capable of doing so.

Someone wrote in my yearbook: “Everything you need is already inside of you.” These are words I hope my students, my family, my friends, my teammates and anyone reading this will carry forward with them. I hope you’ll find the courage to share your story and take pride in the unique aspects of your own path. Know that so many of us are listening and that you are enough.

I hope that by being who we are and raising our voices, our global community becomes more inclusive, more compassionate and more connected. I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to that world.

In the future, I know I will be writing, teaching, making time for friends and family, and waiting for the next time this world takes my breath away. I know it will.