Sebastian Meyer ’94 Visit
On May 11th Sebastian Meyer ’94 talked to the Upper School about his experience as a photojournalist in the Middle East. Here he discusses how he felt returning to St. Bernard's.
The following week, in New York, taking precisely the same route to school I had followed throughout my entire elementary school life, I prepared myself for how much younger the seventh, eighth, and ninth graders were going to appear to me. I readied myself for the shock.
But I didn’t need to in the slightest. In fact, I should have done the opposite. In the few minutes of questions we had at the end of the talk, the students floored me with their exceptionally mature, intelligent, and well delivered questions. To my embarrassment, the questions were so considered and profound, I had trouble answering most of them. In addition, thanks to a remarkable class they had taken, they all knew the geography of Libya, where I had been reporting from for six weeks, far better than I did.
I had no idea while I was sitting in class on 98th and 5th that I would end up as photojournalist in the Middle East, but taking tough question after tough question from the Upper School boys I realized something: At a young age, St. Bernard’s instilled in me a level of intellectual curiosity and confidence that has allowed me to do what I do. To that I owe an enormous debt of gratitude.
Back
The week before I came back to speak to the Upper School at St. Bernard’s I was in Minnesota giving a similar talk to another of my alma maters, Carleton College. My first impression when I arrived was how young the students looked.
The following week, in New York, taking precisely the same route to school I had followed throughout my entire elementary school life, I prepared myself for how much younger the seventh, eighth, and ninth graders were going to appear to me. I readied myself for the shock.
But I didn’t need to in the slightest. In fact, I should have done the opposite. In the few minutes of questions we had at the end of the talk, the students floored me with their exceptionally mature, intelligent, and well delivered questions. To my embarrassment, the questions were so considered and profound, I had trouble answering most of them. In addition, thanks to a remarkable class they had taken, they all knew the geography of Libya, where I had been reporting from for six weeks, far better than I did.
I had no idea while I was sitting in class on 98th and 5th that I would end up as photojournalist in the Middle East, but taking tough question after tough question from the Upper School boys I realized something: At a young age, St. Bernard’s instilled in me a level of intellectual curiosity and confidence that has allowed me to do what I do. To that I owe an enormous debt of gratitude.
