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What Oliver Wendell Holmes Teaches About Life

by Kay :: Monday December 5, 2005

Every new year at Thacher, in September, the Head of School gets up and recites “The Chambered Nautilus” by Oliver Wendell Holmes. The powerful phrase, “Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,” represents a belief that I have tried to live by; I want always to be able to “leave [my] low-vaulted past” and grow into an improved version of myself.

Although the poem introduced this idea to me on my very first day, I feel that it is a way of living inherent in every student who comes through Thacher’s gates. In nearly all cases, they take a chance on living away from home within a new community. Even though I very quickly reached an equilibrium at Thacher where life felt comfortable, I always tried new things: improving myself to prove myself. One of most important experiences that I had during my time in high school was through a program called Maine Coast Semester, where I left Thacher and lived on an organic farm in Wiscasset, ME.

“[Leaving] the past year’s dwelling for the new,” I quickly noticed that Maine was nothing like Ojai. The rivers and even the ocean were frozen over. Unlike the Thacher scholar-cowboy culture, Chewonki had more of a New England farming feel to it. I was excited for the change but immediately felt the shock of climate and culture differences.

At Chewonki, I lived in a one-room cabin with six other girls from all over the country. Unlike Thacher, where I slept on top of my covers with the fans at full blast, there was just one wood stove in the center of our cabin which was supposed to keep us warm for the entire cold nights of January and February. Then with the faculty, staff and other 36 students, we helped run the farm by cleaning classrooms, washing dishes, turning compost and doing various farm chores. By doing this, I had a better understanding of how to live at a basic level. I learned what it meant to grow vegetables and to raise livestock that we would ultimately eat. I felt a strong connection to my food, my friends and the land.

Class work was also intense. One day of the week, we studied the natural history of Maine by traveling to different ecosystems and studying how they had changed over time. We also had courses (including: English, Spanish, American History & Math) with interlocked themes. This forced me to really live with what I learned.

Although I learned through the vigorous academic work and physical work on the farm, the most important parts of MCS were the friendships I formed and the strengths I found within myself. By leaving Thacher for those five months, I tested a foundation I had previously taken for granted, the life from day to day. I also lived so intensely with the Chewonki community that after leaving, I felt as though I had lost a part of that “new chamber” of me. Yet, leaving my comfort zone at Thacher forced me to take the experiences and grow.

The act of expanding one’s horizons is not mostly for the knowledge gained but rather for the experience that can help with future trying experiences. I may not remember what I learned in some of my classes; yet after taking them, I have a better ability to learn in the future.

From moving to Thacher, to going to Chewonki, taking on new job experiences, traveling to foreign countries and attending college, I have continually kept growing, pushing my limits further and further out. The more I present myself with new experiences, the more comfortable I feel with the next new experience at hand. Thacher not only had made me comfortable with taking on new opportunities, but it also put me in a position where I can take advantage of these expansions.

I look forward to continually living this idea of expansion, and to making “each new temple, nobler than the last!”

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