List of 23 items.

• Alexander Kim '23

  What the John Thomas Dye School Means to Me 

  
  

  "Once a greyhound, always a greyhound.” I try to keep telling myself these words as I walk to the MAC Building for my first day of my last year at John Thomas Dye. With the cool and brisk August wind at my back and the rising sun in the distance, I can't help but remember the first time I came onto campus, many years ago. Funny, I think, how seven years can feel so short in the grand scheme of things. Walking onto the lawn, I am greeted by the many familiar sights I have known for so long. The Hall, the heart of our school, and, of course, the flag, which we see daily and say the Pledge and Salutation of the Dawn. "Once a greyhound, always a greyhound. Once a greyhound, always a greyhound.” My heart rate speeds up, and my footsteps suddenly feel very heavy as I walk down the stairs. Greeting old friends, seeing my new advisory room, it's all a flash. It feels as if I've been submerged in water, and I can't feel anything. Walking up to the front lawn, where we line up, I can't help but think that this is the first time of my last year I will say the Pledge of Allegiance. I gaze at everything, the Hall, the lawn, the flag, and suddenly, I want to never leave. I remind myself of the words I kept telling myself that morning, “Once a greyhound, always a greyhound." Putting my hand over my heart, and watching the flag be brought to the top of the pole, I open my mouth and say the words I have known for so long. "I, Pledge Allegiance, to the flag..." 
  Read essay ›

• Pierce Moore '22

  Small Steps, But Giant Leaps

   

  The warm breeze of late August whistled past like a friendly wave to us as we drove. I knew where we were going. Up the steep hill we went, up, up, up, until I finally saw the sign. The John Thomas Dye School, it said. As we got out of the car, the butterflies in my stomach were urging me back. However, my family was urging me forward. And forward I went, taking baby steps. Clump, clump, clump, the quiet sound my shoes made as I was walking along the red bricks outside of the school. Though there was something different about walking along this path. Every step I took, I started to feel more warmth in my body. “Forward, Forward, Forward,” my mind started to say, louder and louder until I realized I wasn’t just taking baby steps, I was walking fast, and wanted to run, wanted to leap. The birds chirping in the trees didn’t sound like they usually did. Their voices and soft, gentle tweeting created a voice, louder and louder, in my head. “Onward, Onward, Onward!” until we finally reached the front gate. The door was cracked open and we pushed through. As the famous Neil Armstrong once said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” This was my small step, but my giant leap. I was about to step into my new school, after months and months of waiting. I jumped into my giant leap, and stepped inside.
  Read essay ›

• Hayley Ross-Settineri '21

  What the John Thomas Dye School Means to Me In a Few, Short, Lyrics
  
  The words that have always been with me whether I'm walking into my classroom on campus or logging into a zoom classroom at home, are the lyrics to a song that has been with me throughout my entire JTD career. This is the song that was taught to us our first music class in Kindergarten, the song that we sing when we are huddled around a table with canned foods waiting to be donated, the song that we sing when a big candle is the only light in the whole school, and the song that I sang as a first grader during the Thanksgiving feast on the bleachers, dressed up as a pilgrim. This song is so special to me not just because of the number of years it's been in my life, but because the lyrics really do talk about JTD and really do symbolize this wonderful place that I have been lucky to call my school.
  Read essay ›

• Aidan Romain '20

  What does the John Thomas Dye School mean to me?

   

  When asked this question, I realize that I have a rather unique perspective. Most of my classmates have been here for seven years, a handful for five years, a few for two, and then me, just one, for one year…sixth grade. My journey at JTD began nine short months ago, and yet, I have already experienced JTD’s philosophy of the 5Cs, what JTD stands for, and what its community strives to be. And although my chapter has been shorter than most, it is a chapter that has reshaped my story, and that I will reflect on always.
  Read essay ›

• Reina Hewes '19

  The moment I stepped out of my mom’s car onto the green lawn, I was scared. That first day of Kindergarten, the day that my journey began, I kept on asking myself the same two questions. “Will I make friends? Will I fit in even though I can’t speak English that well since it is my second language?” I got my answers a few weeks later. Soon, I had made many friends, and I fit in to the cordial community in which the John Thomas Dye School belongs in.
  Read essay ›

• Wyeth Renwick '18

  I have fallen in love.
  
  

  It is not the epic love that poets write long ballads about but the even stronger type, the type that runs through my blood and comes out in my every move, the type that will warm my heart even when I am eighty and my hair is turning silver. Unlike most others’, my heart will never shatter over my first love because my adoration will never die. For even if the bricks that make up JTD are torn to shreds, nobody can ever erase the spirit of it. 
  Read essay ›

• Margaret Morris '17

  “Most of the really exciting things we do in our lives scare us to death.” “They wouldn’t be exciting if they didn’t.” -Danny the Champion of the World by Roald Dahl.
  
  

  Beginning my life here at John Thomas Dye was one of the most frightening and exhilarating experiences of my life. Being the kind of child I was, I couldn’t stand the spotlight. Anything that challenged me to use my voice was out of the question. One would sooner spot pigs flying through a rainbow then watch me call attention to myself. The only quote in my dialogue was, “As long as I’m not the only new kid.” How would I survive the first day of school, let alone the entire year? Since I came from a public school, the world and atmosphere I was used to was completely different. Even raising my hand was a fear that seemed like a mountain I had to climb. And trust me, I was not the athletic type. That was the part that scared me to death. The exciting part was that I knew the outcome of my years here would alter the course of my life, and leave me a changed person.

   
  Read essay ›

• Jane Hamilton '16

  As we twisted up the hill, I felt a mix of fear and exhilaration. "Kindergarten" was a place for big kids, and now it was for me. When I stepped foot on the John Thomas Dye School campus, I felt completely at home. I could hear the exuberant laughter of kids ringing in my ears, and I could tell that there was a sense of family here like no other. It was the John Thomas Dye School that I have come to know and love. It was a place where I would learn and grow. Not only would I learn to read, write, and do arithmetic, but it would shape me into a better person with strong core values, just like the school, itself, had. Ever since my Kindergarten teachers taught me the 5 Cs, they have been permanently imprinted into my brain as a compass to navigate through life.
  Read essay ›

• Sydney Lichtenstein '15

  When I first came to the John Thomas Dye School in kindergarten, I was scared. I wasn't sure what to expect from my peers, teachers, and academic lessons. I didn't identify JTD as the beautiful, nurturing environment I think of it as today, but as a tall, looming mountain that I was afraid to climb.
  Read essay ›

• Amelie Zilber '14

  Love, Beauty, and Truth

  
  Six years ago, I nervously stepped out of my mom’s car and embarked on my journey at a new school. I asked myself, “will I fit in, will I make friends?” And how on earth will I ever learn the “Salutation of the dawn?” I secretly held a copy of the poem in my hands those first few mornings for reassurance. But, time passed quickly. I made friends, I fit in, and I finally left the piece of paper at home. I was a part of the John Thomas Dye community. 
  Read essay ›

• Kevin Chen '13

  A long time ago, in a memory lost to the infinite trek of time, I remember someone saying to me, “It matters not when you start or where you end. What mattes is the journey in between.” I was in Kindergarten when I first heard that saying, and I was probably too young to be thinking such deep and philosophical thoughts. Now, however, I can fully grasp the concept of the statement: to enjoy life to the fullest. There were many roads to take at John Thomas Dye, but, quoting Robert Frost, “I took the one less traveled by.”
  Read essay ›

• Alexa Frandzel '12

  As one enters John Dye Hall, they walk upon a brick path marked with the names of students past and present.  This is not any ordinary path because it leads to John Dye Hall, the heart and soul of JTD.
  Read essay ›

• Oliver Friedman '11

  John Thomas Dye. An academic foundation most could only longingly hope and dream for. A family that embraces strong core values and ideals that have subtly embedded themselves in my way of life. A sanctuary that somehow dissipates all feelings of negativity. The friendships that will endure for a lifetime. A precious pearl in our academic and social development. John Thomas Dye is the centrifuge that turns, orders, and readies for the future the children who are lucky enough to enjoy its nurturing grasp.
  Read essay ›

• Andrea Muñoz '10

  John…Thomas...Dye, well isn’t that a hard one. Just saying that one name is like a whole river of feelings flowing into me like a huge waterfall, and it makes it a hundred times harder to put the way I feel about JTD into words. The John Thomas Dye School has given so much to me that it does not feel like a school anymore, but it seems to be much more than that. Although I have only been at JTD for two years the amount of gifts and feelings it has given me is no less than those who have been here for six or eight years. John Thomas Dye has not only given me an education that one can only dream of, but it has given me compassion, desire, love, and most of all, hope.
  Read essay ›

• Shira Levin '09

  When I first came to The John Thomas Dye School, I soon realized that life was a race. It was a race, where I thought I had to be the first to finish. Throughout my years at JTD I have come to understand that life is not about the race itself, it is about how you choose to swim it. It is about noticing the little things in life and the small actions that put a smile on your face. It is seeing your friends Monday morning with open arms for you to run into. It is about looking down at the tiny marsh-mellow in your hand during the Candle Lighting Ceremony and seeing that bright little flame, knowing that you have never held anything more delicate and powerful. Or the feeling of apprehension and excitement before receiving back a graded math test, confident you will obtain a high mark. The special feeling of coming to school on your birthday and noticing that your locker has been decorated, knowing that your friends truly love and care about you. The tingly warmth at the pit of your stomach when you look to see where your basketball game will take place and it says home, because it truly is home. On Carols, the toasty way you feel in the arms of your friends standing by the warm flickering fire. It is giggling to yourself as you see the little first grade boy run across the field each morning during the Salutation of the Dawn. I have fallen in love with this school. Everything about it is unbelievable, but a school is not about its outer picture: it is the people in it that make it magnificent.
  Read essay ›

• Neidin Hernandez '08

  I can still remember the first day the bold yellow school bus pulled up to the pick up stop. My lips were raw from constant biting and the palms of my hands were drenched in perspiration. I can vaguely remember my mother wishing me good luck as I numbly made my way to the school. I sat down on the cold gray seats, tilted my head back and closed my eyes in a desperate attempt to calm my nerves. “Why was I so nervous?” I asked myself. After all, it was only a school.
  Read essay ›

• Katherine Ewell '07

  How to describe John Thomas Dye School? Surely not with words, for words are too small and confining to encircle the multitude of love that is John Thomas Dye. Maybe with pictures or sculpture we may grasp what JTD really means, but for now words must be sufficient.
  Read essay ›

• Caitlyn Gold '06

  Thank You JTD
  
  

  Skipping across the lawn with my friends, I pause for a moment to take in my surroundings, as a tree soaks up the sun. Before me lies the city, sparkling in the afternoon light. The ocean shines like a gem in the bright light, and the mountains beyond stand strong and proud. The sun’s rays shine down upon the ground as pools of molten gold. A light breeze blows by softly, brushing against my cheek like a caress. The laughter and chatter of my fellow students drifts past me, carried on the wind. The grass sways to and fro, to and fro, as a dancer does, and the trees in the canyon rustle their leaves in accompaniment. Above me, the king of the skies, a red-tailed hawk, soars overhead, a blur of feathers, wheeling, always wheeling. When the day is done, he will make his way to his cozy nest and settle for the night. Unlike him, even when I am not at my house, I am still at home, for you see, John Thomas Dye is my second home, a place where I can relax and be myself, a place where I am me. Life is good. I sigh a sigh of utmost contentment and continue along my meandering path down to the lower field. 
  Read essay ›

• Tiana Woolridge '05

  Ever since I first arrived at The John Thomas Dye School, it has been more than just a “learnatorium”. It is a place I wake up to every morning looking forward to attending, a place where I feel welcomed, a place like home. After having moved seven times and gone through five schools, John Thomas Dye has definitely become a home to me. Also, when I first came to this school, my mother was going through a very tough divorce. I was always mixed up and confused with what was going on, and sometimes I thought my parents were breaking up because of me. John Thomas Dye was a safe haven for me to escape to on the days when I was feeling sad, confused, and lonely. It also helped me to get past the gnawing pangs of sorrow I sometimes had. On the day I first came to the school, I was whole-heartedly welcomed and immediately guided down a path filled with long-lasting friendships, various adventures, and an education of which most could only dream. All of those aspects make JTD even more like a home.
  Read essay ›

• Annie McCarthy '04

  After spending nine years here at John Thomas Dye I am finally asked to share what my time here has meant to me. Looking back at what I have accomplished over these years, I feel a surge of pride, and I realize that I am leaving this school a completely different person. Many years ago or at least five, if you had asked me to write this essay I would have laughed and said that I am going to be here forever.  Why would I write about what it has meant to me as I am about to leave? In a sense I was right then. What John Thomas Dye has meant to me will stay with me forever. My time here has taught me that I am confident and I will always belong to the JTD family.
  Read essay ›

• Max Ritvo '03

  Utopia
  
  The John Thomas Dye School is a warm summer breeze. It’s the feeling you get when vanilla ice cream runs down the cone and over your fingers, caressing them in its icy grasp. It’s the sound of dozens of little voices straining to be heard over the rest at the Carols. It is a place where my peers and I can experience life to its fullest. It is where we can relish in the studying of everything, from mathematics to friendship.
  Read essay ›

• Nicholas Cuse '02

  My Second Home
  
  

  Every weekday morning I rise out of bed, put on my uniform, munch on a quick breakfast, and then head out to my car. Although it is filled with a myriad of children my age, my vehicle is completely silent, all childish energy subdued by the morning drowsiness. As the car rumbles and pulls out of my driveway, you might think I was leaving home, but for me it's not really like that. For me it's more like going from one home to another, because the place I am going still has familiarity, happiness, friends, and teachers. The place I am going also, like my home, means a lot to me. The place I am going it J.T.D.
  Read essay ›

• Greer Feick '01

  John Thomas Dye is a school where I was just as excited to go every morning in sixth grade as I was on those magical mornings in kindergarten. There was never a day when I didn’t want to go to school. I honestly couldn’t wait for each day to begin. You get to know every nook and cranny so well it’s like a second home. The teachers really know and care about each student. I’m still good friends with my kindergarten teacher. Most of all, I have so many memories of good times at John Thomas Dye. I remember the tree I used to sit on and giggle in in second grade, my hideout in the office next to my third grade classroom, the greenhouse in fourth grade where I grew the only carrots I ever liked eating, because I grew them, the tree I planted next to the art room at environmental club in fifth grade, and finally being the graduating class this year and getting to lead the school in The Salutation of the Dawn and The Pledge of Allegiance. Every time you take the two big steps and shout “I” or “Listen” you think about how much this school means to all of us and how sad we’ll be to leave it. Just thinking that John Thomas Dye won’t be my school anymore makes me sad. It’s not just a school, it’s a place for hugging, laughing, joking with friends, helping others, bouncing balls, learning about Headstart and One Voice and thinking about how I want to make a difference in the world. It’s a place for tromping through the canyon in science class, reporting for the Flare, performing without fear in front of a welcoming audience at Music for Lunch Bunch, outdoing yourself for a Halloween costume, and running a campaign for student council elections. Even when I’m not at John Thomas Dye I’ve seen people who go to our school or have gone and think, “Oh, there’s someone in the family.”
  Read essay ›