So many wonderful memories of my four years at Hunter, but the very first is one of the most indelible - in the Spring of 1963 as an incoming 9th grader, I was welcomed at an orientation meeting (I think it was in the North Lounge of Hunter College) where I was enormously impressed to meet girls my own age who were running the show. They seemed to be in charge of everything -so mature, so serious, so responsible. In that moment, I knew I was entering a new world, and looking at a model of what a shy, sheltered Catholic school girl could become.
Looking through my HCHS archives, I came across the reunion booklet from 1997 where I wrote that the only thing a Hunter girl can’t do is summarize 30 years in one paragraph. Still true. In the 20 years since then my life has changed in significant ways but I’m still the same Hunter girl who loves learning, treasures old friends and looks with hope to the future.
After the loss of my dear husband of 33 years, in 2010, and my retirement from my job as Director of the award-winning Perth Amboy NJ Bilingual/ESL Program, I’ve been busy perfecting my fourth language, Italian. I’m currently enrolled in my 13th graduate course in Italian at Rutgers - all free! - one of the benefits of senior citizen status! I returned to Italy a few years ago for a long-delayed emotional reunion with my father’s 94-year-old sister and am now in frequent and regular communication with my many Italian cousins via email and SKYPE. Dancing on my own in Zumba classes, but still dancing and enjoying life. |
