Residence: The Greatest of Adventures

Story appeared in the 2013 issue of QMS Connections Magazine.

BY LEANNE SCHULTZ, OPERATIONS & HR MANAGER
Story by MARINA KITT (‘13)

Marina Kitt, Christine Lim, and Cecilia Chan share a laugh.

“As a young woman, living in Residence is one of the best developmental opportunities we can be faced with. Being a Boarder is more than a title. It is a duty. What type of duty you ask? Well, we are the few who are brave enough to leave our comfort zone. We take to the sky, the earth, and the sea to reach this place we like to call mi casa, 家, zuhause, ホーム, our home. Sometimes we are lonely or we miss the cities we were raised in, but we know we will be back; stronger than ever we will return with our expanded horizons.

We are the big thinkers of tomorrow asserting our independence today. We take responsibility for the actions we chose and we learn to live balanced lives that will carry us into our futures. In Residence we work for reward. Rewards of freedom and autonomy from the loads we bear on our shoulders — we are taught to achieve. We strive to achieve bigger and better than previously we have imagined.

In this home we learn who we are and who we can be. This is the midway house for the development of our personality. Without the pressures of dress and external influences, we are able to become ideal global citizens. We open our minds without judgments to the world full of culture and difference.”

Marina Kitt and Wan Xian Koh celebrate Malaysia on Flag Day

Some come to Residence because they are compelled by their family, but in my case, there is no one who wants me in Residence more than I do. I feel this way because now I am braver, stronger, and a bigger thinker than I was yesterday. Without Residence we would not be the people we are today. We will enter the rest of our lives, whether we know it yet or not, prepared to embark on the greatest of adventures all because we were Boarders. - Marina Kitt May 1st, 2013