joshwriting | 30 Years Ago 'Today'

Saturday was the (start of the) Head of the Charles regatta in Boston. 30 years ago, I was a freshman at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), and my friend and fellow freshman, Bruce Gillespie invited me to come into Boston to connect with him, meet his girlfried, Cathy Piasta, and see the MIT High School Studies Program (HSSP), in addition to the Head.

As I had been a coxswain for the Northfield Mount Hermon crew, the Head was something of interest to me. (Homework, otoh, was not of interest to me.

So, I took my folks' Vista Cruiser and trundled into the city.

Lots of things about that trip... a good time, a totaled Vista Cruiser, a major crush on Bruce's girlfriend, and...

My first time at MIT and at HSSP. I could not believe it - a place in which learning was more important than grades, than credentials... A place in which folks who wanted to learn and folks who wanted to share got together to allow that to happen.

I returned later that year, multiple times. I hung out regularly the next year.

I have now hung out there for 30 years.

It is not 30 years to the day, by calendar - but to the event.

Happy Anniversary, nonetheless, to me and to the MIT program. It changed my life, it gave me a life.

I try to give back, to return the favor, to 'pay it forward.' I have been given so much from HSSP, from the parent organization, the Educational Studies Program, and from MIT itself that I could not pay it all back if I lived 200 years. Friends, a career, self-respect, meaning...

I <3 MIT and ESP more than I can ever communicate.