By Morgan Broderick ’18

Morgan singing on stage in the auditorium in 2016. Photo: Mr. Michael Aldridge

So much for flying under the radar. If my last name doesn’t sound familiar, I’m Tom Broderick’s daughter, and Northwood has been my home for 16 years. I have lived all over campus: from the current Spear apartment to H. Runyon’s on ground floor west, to the house next to Bergamini where I live now. However, where I’ve lived on campus hasn’t made as much of an impact on me as the people I’ve met.

Trust me, the Northwood campus is the perfect place to grow up. Northwood is in an Olympic town with so many opportunities for a young girl to embrace. The woods surrounding the dorms were (and still are) the perfect place for playing. The halls became bike lanes, make-believe lands and places to dance through, and the living room was perfect for pillow forts with the students or just plain bouncing around. It was a child’s dream. Going up to school was the biggest treat. To be in the same place as the big kids was amazing. Each formal dinner was a chance to go eat with the big kids. Plus, at the end, the “staff brats” would take part in our tradition: playing in the auditorium until our parents said it was time to go home and we had to leave. That place was magical! As a young girl I could sing up there or I could jump from seat to seat. The auditorium was so amazing. It made school meetings seem cool. I was even allowed to sing “A Whole New World” to the whole school at a school meeting.

The campus was the staff brat playground, and it wouldn’t have been fun without someone to share it with: my friend, and fellow student, Sara Donatello, who lived two floors above me. She was my Partner in Crime. We’d play together, up and down the halls. We’d play with the girls hockey players, with the older staff brats, Lizzie, Nick, and Matt Edwards, Shannon and Dylan Aldridge. It’s hard to believe that I have come this far, but that’s me now. I am the teenage staff brat who is a student at Northwood, hoping to make connections with younger students like countless kids did with me.

I can remember each student clearly, all the smiling faces that I grew up with. I had a connection with some students who would take time to play with the younger students, because they loved to. Matt Mulhall, who graduated in the class of 2006, was mentioned in the yearbook for babysitting because he spent so much time doing so. Other students were just as well known for their way with kids. I’ll never forget the students that I was close with, the ones who I never knew existed until they watched me for the first time.

This is where I grew up. Surrounded by teenagers, all here for their own reason. And while I haven’t seen some of them in years, I’ll never forget the times I had with these Northwood students.