“I was the only senior of the marching band this year, along with being drum major. I didn’t think too much about any of it – that is to say that I didn’t see myself as different from anyone else there. First lunch break of the season, I’m sitting in the hallway when a few other younger students ask if they can sit with me. I say yes, and we start talking, cracking jokes, falling into an easy silence at times. This continues for the rest of the summer camp, and I don’t think too much of it until one of them approaches me and thanks me for being kind to her. It was her first year, and she was scared as she didn’t know a lot of the other band members. She wasn’t sure if she was going to have anyone to eat with at lunch, or have anyone to show her the ropes. She ended by thanking me for being someone willing to help her. I told her it was no problem and that I enjoyed talking to her, and it wasn’t until later that I realized that without thinking I had done the same thing those percussion guys had done my first day of camp.”
– Alex Lancaster, MCSF application essay