Senior Series - Chris Shea

As I reflect on my years as a participant in Hawken Athletics, many things come to mind.

I have been a witness to countless great games and matches. I have seen incredible feats in the weight room. I have announced basketball games. I have been a part of a deep baseball playoff run. I have had successes on the football field. With all of that, what sticks out beyond all those great moments are the true genuine friendships that I have developed.

I can look back and remember my first day going to summer football practice as an incoming freshman. A short, skinny kid with braces that got dropped off by his mom and walked into an environment where the only person he knew was himself. Quickly, I came to realize I was standing on that field with people that would be my lifelong friends.

I don't necessarily remember how I became acquainted with everyone or my first interactions, but I do remember how embraced I felt. I was a new Hawken Hawk, and the guys on the team made the effort to make me feel like one of their own. From that day on, I became more and more a part of this community, one that is so easy to be heard and recognized in. You don't have to be the best athlete or best player on your team to have a voice. It is almost effortless to make interpersonal connections and relationships with members of the athletic community here at Hawken. As a freshman, I saw how the upperclassmen made these efforts to embrace newcomers and younger members of the team, and I made it my mission to do the same when I earned those leadership roles. As every year passed, my role as a leader grew larger and larger and suddenly, I was the role model to underclassmen who now looked up to me. It is the cycle that has been adopted by every Hawken varsity team. The cycle of leadership and camaraderie. I have never seen a group of senior leaders on any given varsity team in any given year that I haven't been confident in. It seems that every group of leaders has adopted what the people before them have done, and they truly enjoy having the privilege of inspiring and passing the message of leadership on.

Every one of the seniors in the class of 2023 on all of the athletics teams did an amazing job leading and guiding their teams as well as supporting other teams. It is always great as a player to see the soccer team at the field hockey games or the football team attending the volleyball games. The sense of community at Hawken is demonstrated in a tremendous way when you see that happen. It shows that people do not just play sports here for the Human Performance exemption, but they play because they love it. They love the tight-knit community we have at Hawken and the way each player and each varsity team feed off one another.

This past year has given me the opportunity to develop a completely different perspective on what Hawken Athletics and the football team mean to me. I have embraced now more than ever that I have to be a leader of the team and a leader within the school, and I implore all of the underclassmen to do the same when your time comes. They say that the time in high school flies by, and they weren't lying. My final takeaway for all athletes that still have more time left here at Hawken is to embrace every moment you have here. Take nothing for granted. Some of you may think you have time to make these memories and be leaders down the road, but don't wait until it is too late and the time has already passed you by. Live out the school's mission, embrace the motto of Fair Play we have hanging in every room of this school, and most importantly, have fun doing it.