Duncan Magidson (’12) and Gabi Walter-Clay (’12) have just been elected your new students leaders. But who are they, really? The Legend sent me to investigate.
I met Magidson in the music closet to understand the real Duncan. He was wearing an astonishingly attractive pair of footie pajamas that I would say brought out the blue color of his eyes. His eyes are brown, he says. Oh well, they looked blue.
I asked him what his artistic vision is for the coming school year. He said, “to make this school more aesthetically pleasing, we need to get rid of most of these walls- bust out the sledgehammer, and create more open space. It would look like a beautiful combination of the indoors and outdoors- like a greenhouse, but for learning.”
He said “the most absurd thing anyone has asked me to do as president has been to shorten the school year to 4 days- although the last day would be a half day so it wouldn’t really count.”
While Duncan can’t make such a promise, he does have a few tangible ideas for his administration next year. “Considering that the school is going to be expanding with 110 incoming freshmen, this makes inter-grade bonding and school unity ‘crazy-important’ in the future.” He wants to keep Tribes, the mixed-grade spirit groups created by this year’s student committee, going strong in the coming year.
Duncan is an expert biker and a rookie driver. He has also acquired a permit to drive a Segway.
I found Walter-Clay in the Student Center heating up her lunch. It was a big juicy Italian sausage and potatoes–a hearty meal. She was so busy that day, per usual, that she had to eat it after school. I ask her whether her meal was a leftover or takeout. She informed me that her mom made it: ”Italian with an Icelandic twist, because my mom’s Icelandic.”
She told me how she’s feeling about next year. “I’m way too excited,” she said. “I can’t wait for everyone to be way too excited too, like me. I’m ready for assemblies to turn in to dance-alakalaka-oooh-ahhh-boogie-down-let’s get started-go Urban go Urban-RAH RAH RAH!”
Needless to say, Walter-Clay is stoked for the coming year of All School Meetings. Her plan of action: create an ambiance of enthusiasm in ASM that will allow the student body to make connections that extend beyond Monday mornings. Her parting words: “keep it real, Urban.”
They’re not Natasha and Cody. But they’re going to give us something to think about after we leave All School Meeting on Monday mornings, if only because they’ll make us chuckle and howl.