B1, choice b			Chris Kawecki
	I can say with confidence that the recent educational
experience that has affected my life more than any other is
having been taught by Bill Batty in freshman humanities at
Northfield Mount Hermon. He rejuvinated my interest in school,
lost in two years of Junior High, where I had had very few
classes in which I actually learned something.
	My very first class  at NMH was Bill's. I was not looking
forward to it. My Junior High English classes had always taken on
a very didactic character, rather than an exchange of ideas, and
I never felt good about that. But by the end of Bill's class
-after a single class- I was already looking forward to the next
day.
	Bill told us that the most important things to him were
images and people's stories. During class, we told one another
our stories. I enjoyed it, and Bill was right. Our stories
were worth listening to. But the best thing Bill did for me was
later that year, when he helped me discover that I could write,
and that writing could be enjoyable.
	I think one of the biggest things that helped me in becoming
someone who enjoys writing freshman year was Bill accepting what
I did write. He would go around the classroom and tell us what he
liked about our papers. Sometimes we read our papers aloud, and
for the first time ever I was asked to read a paper out loud as
an example of how details could be used effectively. With
previous teachers, I lost my enthusiasm for my writing because
the teachers showed none. I was in a vicious cycle: my teachers
corrected my emotionless papers because it was their job,
and I, reciprocally, wrote emotionless papers without the
slightest hint of enthusiasm. But Bill cared about what I had to
say, and that praise urged me on.
	By mid-year, I enjoyed writing papers. Wanting to write
papers and feeling good about them was a lot better than grinding
them out. I genuinely liked English. During Spring Term, I even
started writing extra papers. My love of writing has continued
ever since. Over that summer I began to keep a journal, in which
I write impressions about events, descriptions about what I have
been doing, and, in the past year, poetry as well. I write in it
about 2 hours a week, and more during the summer when I have
time. I write in it above all because I enjoy writing. I feel
good about what I write. I have even had some of my poetry
published in the school literary magazine.
	Bill showed us that school did not have to be so pedantic.
It was an opportunity for us all to come together, to learn, and
to enjoy it. He gave me confidence that I could write, and helped
me to discover that writing could be an enjoyable part of my
life. He gave his students self-confidence, and we learned that
our stories were important. In short, by helping me develop an
interest in the material, he gave me a whole new outlook on
myself and on the opportunities, rather than the rubber stamping,
that school really stands for.

	B2				Chris Kawecki
	To let you know why I feel I am ready for Hampshire, the
most important thing is to show you some of my history and
philosophy. This is what I see the main point of this question
as: to let you see who I am, what has made me who I am, and what
environment would be the best for me to continue my education.
Then you can decide whether I am ready for Hampshire. 
	I am a person with immense interest in nearly all things. I
am interested in physics, history, painting, and the people who
live next door. My energy is nearly undying, and I put out as
full an effort as I can muster in the areas of my interest. I am
on a constant quest for the betterment of myself and the people I
share this Earth with, and I think Hampshire will give me the
opportunity to follow as many of those paths as I can and provide
me with as supportive an atmosphere as anywhere.
	During my years of education, I have had to go beyond the
learning provided for me by classes to satisfy, at least to some
degreee, my curiosity. This has included applying for and working
as a page in the Vermont legislature, a job which I worked at
for two months in the winter of eighth grade. It has also
included quite a lot of reading on my own. One book I read at
the beginning of this year that has given me quite a lot of
insight into people, and especially myself, is Summerhill. It is
a book by A. S. Neill about the alternative school he founded in
England where children do what they please. The philosophy of
Summerhill is convincing to me because it has been the philosophy
which my parents employed in raising me and allowed me to
maintain my interest in and optimism about the world. Most of my
peers have been compelled to do much too much too early, and,
consequently, they have developed aversions to learning. For me,
the absence of guidlines has allowed me to learn what I want to
learn at the level I am at.
	My supportive parents have helped me very much in keeping
me curious not only while I was very young, but also during the
time I was in public school. My Mom's help has been twofold:
first, at home, her eagerness to help me persue what I wanted,
and second, in school, her commitment to the education of her
children, culminating in designing and teaching in the "open
classrooms" I was in throught elementary school. My father's help
was entirely outside of school. He answered my questions, built
things with me, and let me help fixing things. When in Junior
High my science class was too boring, Dad taught me some physics
at home after school. Little did I know then, but I would need
this experience to convince the science department to let me
enroll in Calculus based physics with no previous courses in
physics two years later at NMH.
	In the past two years, my curiosity and increasing maturity
have led me to explore areas of interest without outside support.
In response to an interest in Russian History, developing since
taking NMH's Russian History class term, I have read The New
Russians, two books I found in the attic, Will the Soviet Union
Survive Until 1984, Soviet Education: Anton Makarekno and the
Years of Experiment, and am now reading a biography of Lenin by
Ronald Clark. In the same time period (since the end of Fall
Term, just before Christmas), I have also read Up 'Til Now, a
memoir of Eugene McCarthy, and Nobody Knows, an analysis of the
McCarthy campaign of '68 by one of McCarthy's speechwriters. My
interest in McCarthy started when I saw him on the McNeill-Lehrer
News Hour discussing his bid for the Democratic Nomination this
year. This coming week, I will turn in a 16-page paper on the
progressive elements of McCarthy's platform.
	The best thing I think Hampshire has to offer me is the
opportunity to let my curiousity fulfill itself. My ability to
motivate myself has already developed to such a point that I can
independantly pursue my interests without the kicks in the butt
NMH is convinced people need anytime they do not fit the mold. I
have also found that I enjoy and learn the most in those courses
or activities that I myself choose to partake in. Filling
requirements does not feel as good, nor is it as effective, as
actively pursing my interests with my own self-motivation.
Further, Hampshire will give me an environment where my peers
are interested and interesting. The people I have met at
Hampshire are freindly and motivated. The opportunity to pursue
my interests and a supportive community are the two things that
I feel are the most appropriate for my educational needs, and my
impression of Hampshire is that it will provide both.