By Julius Lujano ‘22

My experience at Rice was a unique one compared to others that have graduated. The biggest difference in my experience at Rice is the obvious one.

Covid hit in my sophomore year.  So in reality, I have been in the school for only 3 years if you account for the half-year in quarantine and the half-in, half-out school schedule from last year.  Despite my shortened time at Rice, I believe I was able to have the full experience.

I attended the sports games, competed for the track and field team, and made many great friends during my time at Rice. Now that it is all coming to an end, I ask myself if I made the right choice in eighth grade to attend Brother Rice.

My conclusion – yes! I believe that the experiences I carry are unique to Rice. The wins and losses of the sports games, the teachers, the classes, and the friends are all unique to this school.

The atmosphere I felt while being a young shadow was not a disguise put on to entice me to attend, but was the genuine feeling a person has while attending.

With the ups, however, are also the downs. In any school environment, there will be things that a person may not enjoy. I can say for certain that there were some classes I didn’t care for or some teachers I didn’t particularly like. I now think of these things as obstacles I had to overcome so I can become the person I am now.

Overall I am grateful to my mom for paying for me to attend Brother Rice and have the best high school experience possible. I am also grateful for the teachers and staff that taught me how to be the man I am now.

I can now say for certain that I am a man of Edmund and will always be a Crusader for the rest of my life.