My name is Michelle, and I joined The Agnes Irwin School community in 8th grade. I was looking for a challenging curriculum and a positive learning environment; I certainly found both of those things here. As a new student from a larger public school, I was initially shy and nervous about the challenges that lay before me. Almost immediately, however, the inclusive community here at Agnes Irwin helped me find my voice. The overwhelming sense of community and the camaraderie between students, teachers and staff have helped me develop not only my intellectual abilities, but my confidence as a student leader. By the end of my first year at Agnes Irwin, I had been elected to represent my class on Student Government, and am now serving my fourth year on the board as Vice President of the senior class. Our last four years have been incredibly productive, as we a have a faculty that is willing to empower student leaders and work with us for the greater improvement of our school community. We have planned countless student events, created the Honor Board, which now exists to promote our honor code and discuss honorability in the modern world, updated our uniform, and have recently been focusing on making our community more environmentally friendly. Last year, we provided every student with a reusable water bottle which has significantly decreased the amount of waste produced by the cafeteria. I am also head of the Debate Club, which meets weekly to discuss and debate current political and social issues. I am also a contributing author to the school newspaper, The Wick, and we write about a wide range of issues, from sustainable agriculture to Obama’s first year in office.   While our experiences within Agnes Irwin offer a diverse range of perspectives and opportunities, we are all encouraged to contribute to our community beyond the school. Each grade has a day completely dedicated to community service projects, and our Student Outreach Services Board makes us aware of new opportunities to give back to our larger community. For the last two years, I have been volunteering independently as a tutor with the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children at the James Roads School in West Philadelphia, working with middle school students to master academic concepts and to promote continuing education. This experience has made me really value the breadth of academic resources Agnes Irwin has to offer.   Every year, the two-week long Special Studies Program (SSP) offers sophomores and juniors learning experiences outside of the classroom, from study abroad programs to internships and service projects. My sophomore year, my first week was spent at Georgetown University as a Presidential Classroom Scholar. I spent my second week in South Carolina working with Sea Island Habitat for Humanity. For SSP my junior year, I was part of a local program examining immigration in Philadelphia. Through this special learning project, I came into contact with the Nationalities Service Center in Philadelphia, where I then spent the summer volunteering as a tutor and assistant teacher for ESL classes for recent immigrants and political refugees. This inspired my recent Senior Assembly entitled The Philosophy of Immigration, which I presented to the entire Upper School with a speech and PowerPoint presentation. With all of these experiences, Agnes Irwin has enabled me gain a variety of perspectives on the outside world, and encouraged the development of my passions and interests.   While I am incredibly grateful for all of the opportunities Agnes Irwin has provided me with, it is the relationships with my classmates that make this school such a special place to me. I have specials bonds with each of the 62 other girls in my class, and we all genuinely care about each other and our school. We are serious as we work together for the common good of Agnes Irwin yet still playful as we make weird faces at each other as we pass in the hallways. We study together, play together, stress together, laugh together and I am sure we will cry together when we graduate in the spring and go our separate ways for college. Until then, however, we will continue to thrive in this unique and inspiring community that I encourage every parent to explore and every young girl to join without hesitation.    -       Michelle