DLA 2010 The Final Goodbyes

We have goodbyes from the three graduates on the newspaper committee this year: Charles McDaniel, Kiefer Mecham, and Nathan Miller. Charles and Nathan will be attending college in the fall, while Kiefer is beginning his senior year. Due to policy changes, students who have graduated high school will no longer be able to attend DLA anymore. Without further ado, here we go.

Charles McDaniel

As my first and final DLA session comes to a close, I think of all the great times I have had here since Summerscape. These memories shape me to this day, and define who I am. I have no doubt that I would be a worse person if I had never been to a Drury pre-college program, and I hope I have made that same impact on all the friends I collected in Summerscape and DLA.

Kiefer Mecham

Tonight, I am not speaking just for DLA. No. I am speaking for my entire Drury pre-college experience both at Summerscape and DLA. My time here has been incredible. To see who I was when I started and to see who I am now is truly a remarkable thing because they are two very different people.

I began here right after the death of a loved one in 2006. It is interesting, I find today, that at the time, I began Summerscape at an extreme. I was about to move, my grandmother had just passed, it was a whirlwind of emotions. Today, as I have come into my new life and settled down four years later, I am ending my Drury pre-college experience quietly and with a calm disposition.

Over the past few years, I have been able to watch an extraordinary thing. I have been able to watch my fellow campers, my fellow teachers, my family, grow and develop into who they are today. Not just this, but I am one of them. Drury pre-college programs have shaped me; no longer a quiet, shy, small-town boy, I am a confident leader thanks to this leadership academy. Summerscape and DLA have served their purpose for me. After taking care of this place for the past five summers, I speak for myself and my fellow seniors when I say that it is time for the next generation to stand up. It is your turn, my friends.

Nathan Miller

Alas, DLA is coming to a close. It's been an incredible week and a half. I've learned a lot of things and made a ton of new friends, and became closer to those friends that I already knew. Summerscape and DLA have been an integral part of my year for the past five years. It has always been a place where I gain confidence, and it helps me focus for the next year. I've watched myself and others grow through this program and bloom into the people that they aspire to be. I'm going to college in the fall, and DLA is helping me jump across the river into independent life. I'd like to close this out by thanking everyone who made this both possible and enjoyable, and would like to encourage everyone to attend in 2011.