Episode 13: Senior Chapel Talks by Andrew Hieger and Michael Robinson

In his #SeniorChapelTalk, Andrew Hieger described life as a child with his best friend Ellie–a stuffed elephant he got when he was just one year old. She went everywhere with him and though she became worn, for seven years he didn’t let go. But when she disappeared one day, he focused on his friends and family, slowly becoming less dependent on his missing stuffed animal. Looking back, he realized Ellie’s disappearance taught him that just because you haven’t done something before doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Speaking to his senior classmates, he reminded them they would all be leaving for college soon, but that doesn’t mean going away will be impossible. In the end, “If you love something, let it go and if it loves you, it will come back...or you just might find it stored away in a box in grandma’s house.”

In his #SeniorChapelTalk, Michael Robinson spoke about anxiety–specifically, chapel talk anxiety. He joked about procrastination and denial being great methods for coping, until he reached the halfway point of junior year. Facing what he couldn’t put off any longer, he chose a topic and soon realized he would be “giving advice about how to write advice so that you can later give that advice without panicking because you’ve never given advice before.” In the end, he encouraged the community to accept anxiety they may face in the future, but to only do it at a specific time so that you spend less time worrying overall. For the students who haven’t given their talk yet, he reminded them that there’s no better place to give it than at TMI, because, “jokes aside, this is an amazing community.”