Belonging Together at Lawrenceville

By Sienna Kulynych ’26, Lawrenceville School student body president

As soon as I stepped foot onto campus, I knew that Lawrenceville was the place for me. The Circle and the Crescent, with their red-bricked Houses arranged in near-perfect geometry, filled with decades of history and memories. The grounds are framed by centuries-old trees and students sit in colorful lawn chairs, laughing and talking to one another. Here, I realized that community is not just a word but a lived experience. It wasn’t long before I realized that these structural designs weren’t simply architectural choices but symbols of connection, helping foster relationships that will last a lifetime.

Coming from a huge public school where I definitely did not know everyone's name, Lawrenceville was a striking change. Suddenly, I was in a place where others greeted me frequently in between classes, where teachers reached out to see how I was doing after a rough day, and where my House became my family.

I am reminded of the late writer Marina Keegan, whose words reached far beyond the campus at Yale and became immortal. In her New York Times bestselling book “The Opposite of Loneliness,” published just days before her untimely passing, she named this feeling perfectly: “We don’t have a word for the opposite of loneliness but if we did, that’s what I want in life. What I’m grateful and thankful to have found at Yale, and what I’m scared of losing when we wake up tomorrow after Commencement and leave this place.”

Though Marina was talking about her own college experience, I read this and instantly thought of my time at Lawrenceville. It isn’t a singular moment or tradition but something woven into everyday life at Lawrenceville. Playing your first Kumcha game during Orientation, cheering on your Housemates on their tiny tricycles at House Olympics, and simply being there for each other in times of both harmony and hardship.

Like Marina, I, too, fear losing this feeling after I graduate. And so, I’ve committed my senior year to continuing to make Lawrenceville for others what it was for me: home. Alongside some of my favorite people–Student Council–I want to help everyone feel the same sense of belonging that has defined my years here.

Four years–or even just one–go by too fast, so I urge my fellow Lawrentians to make the absolute most of it. Try out for the sport you’ve never even played before, make a new club, start a conversation with someone you’ve never talked to. Lawrenceville, just like life, is what you make of it.

And as Keegan reminds us: “How I feel right now. Here. With all of you. In love, impressed, humbled, scared. And we don’t have to lose that.” That is what Lawrenceville has given me since the moment I’ve arrived and what I hope we will continue to carry forward together in the years to come.

For more information, contact Lisa M. Gillard H'17, director of public relations, at lgillard@lawrenceville.org.