Beatrix Karambus- Waring School

Hometown: Beverly, MA
Time at Waring:I have been at waring since sixth grade
Favorite Class: I don't know if I really have a favorite class. I think I am naturally driven to humanities and languages but what makes me love a class is completely reliant on how it is taught and the subject manner. At Waring, this changes depending on the year and the course.
Favorite Waring experience: I love the times when I am doing something while at Waring and then all of a sudden I think, how did I get here? In my eighth grade end term I found myself in a church at the northernmost point of New Brunswick, Canada right on the edge of the ocean. In my freshman year I was watching purposes from a bunker at 5 am. But really, it's all the moments in the grande salle listening to people play the piano as my friends and I did handstands with our backpacks on.
Why no grades work for you: The reason no grades work for me is because I feel that not being judged by a number gives me better insight into why I'm being judged in the first place. It is easy to take it for granted that authority figures have a right to tell you what you/ your work is worth, this being a fundamental part of school. This sets us up to be used to this type of thing in everything we do long term. I think institutions like that make you a more vulnerable and less humane human. I like getting no grades because it creates a conversation around my work rather than assuming I don't know enough.
Favorite book and/or film: I love all books for different reasons, some books I enjoy because the writer's unique style inspires me to write more, some books are just genius, some because they provide interesting historical insight. My favourite book though is probably Journey into the Whirlwind by Eugenia Ginzbergr, it's a memoir of a russian professor who served 20 years in the Gulags under Stalin.
Why French: I think that french is an amazing language to learn because it is not so far from english that it takes a while to ease into your progress. At Waring I see students quickly make strides towards improving their French which is very inspirational. French is also a language spoken around the world that gives you a good base to learn some other romance languages. I also think that having one language as a school really connects us, students and teachers.
After school activities: I love to engage in things out of my comfort zone so I do a lot of random activities that aren't necessarily passions. I play the cello, I'm on the debate team, I'm a math peer tutor, I am a member of Waring Sustainability, I am a writing TA, I am part of this kind-of-Latin club. I play soccer, basketball and Lacrosse. Outside of Waring, I love to ski, go running, make art, travel , meet new people, read and go on adventures.
Our community: I think that Waring is unique because we have a community with so many types of people in such a small bubble that it is hard to have a social standard that everyone follows. At other schools there is more of a code of conduct among students that can be a good thing as much as it can homogenize people, at least on the surface. At Waring you are friends with all different types of people and almost everyone engages in activities they probably wouldn’t if at a different school. I also find that people at Waring genuinely enjoy the subject matter we learn at school so much we talk about it outside of school with friends. I also love how teachers are so engaged with their students they reach out outside of school to recommend books or movies, to share a comment on each other's art, or even to play a pick-up soccer game.
Waring’s success with remote learning last spring I loved Waring's approach to online learning because it treated learning like it was important to our lives and not just because we still had to have course work until the end of the year. In my experience, teachers were understanding with the homework amount but also still really wanted us to engage in the material.

Beatrix Karambus

Class of 2022

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