“The environment of the school was such a great cross-section of humanity, from kids four years old all the way up to the adult staff. So you really had a lot to reflect on with so many experiences being shared. I grew up faster by having access to people who were much older than me. The school also allowed me to interact with people much younger, so that I never lost the sense that there should be a child in all of us. No one should grow up completely. We have to become adults, but we need to remember what it’s like to be a little kid and still be able to find wonder in things. Those of us who were in that environment developed an edge in everything from communication skills to confidence in dealing with things and with people.”
“The full meaning of the school’s philosophy didn’t really come to me until I was out of it and entered adult life, when I found an area of focus that I was interested in and I really was disciplined about it. My own drive, my own motivation was applied to the area that I wanted to get into. Basically the school says you’re responsible for your own education. You’re always going to meet obstacles along the way; but if you put your mind to it and apply yourself to it, it’s going to work out and it’ll have more meaning because it’s come from within you.”
“Nothing was hard for me when I went to college. I did some hard things there because I tried to learn things that were difficult to learn, but college wasn’t hard for me. I was well prepared. I think that people from Sudbury Valley are, in general, because they have the skill of knowing how to take care of themselves, so that when it comes time that they have to do certain things, they can do them.”
“Where the school and I and going to medical school all cross is at the point of being idealistic. I always looked for what was wrong with things and how to fix them and how they could be right. The school was something that was being done right and I wanted to be part of it and it was a way of fixing one thing that was wrong. There’s part of me that is a problem-solver and has always looked at people and tried to figure out first how to help myself but then how to extend that to other people. I have also always wanted to do something that was worthwhile.”