I can still remember the first time I met Amelia White at a Looking Glass meeting while I was in seventh grade. Since I was too new to understand the newspaper’s behind-the-scenes workings and know Amelia’s unfaltering work ethic well, the question I asked myself was: what does Amelia do? Turns out I had it all wrong. The question I should have asked was: what doesn’t Amelia do? The Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Looking Glass, head of the Yearbook club, our beloved stage manager (and winner of the Montrose Player’s Award), Red Key club secretary (and winner of the Red Key Club award), and the winner of the Montrose Cup, our school’s highest honor for a senior – this is only a small piece of everything Amelia has given to Montrose in her seven years here. Aside from her impressive accomplishments, Amelia has meant so much more as a friend and mentor to so many of her fellow students.
Over the past year, I have had the blessing of getting to know Amelia through the Looking Glass, and I can say she is one of the most organized and sweetest people I have ever met. Amelia took care of every minute detail that keeps the newspaper running on a day-to-day basis. Every email to the editors and the school for meetings, planning out the year, the weekly Ask Alices, every newsletter challenge, and anything in between is all thanks to her. However, Amelia does not only work just behind the scenes, but also is the author of many terrific articles: a personal favorite of mine is her Last First Day article. According to Amelia, her favorite part of doing the newspaper is “seeing your work as a finished product,” such as a published article on the website. She has been a leader whom the whole staff respects and looks up to, and the role model I want to follow.
If you have ever wondered what makes Montrose productions run so smoothly on (and off) stage, you don’t have to look much further than Amelia. Her clearly recognized talent as the winner of the Montrose Player’s Award has contributed so much to the Performing Arts program here, and I know so many of my peers in tech look up to Amelia as a sweet and organized leader. Her Montrose performing arts career culminated in this year’s One Act Play, The Royal Bachelor, which she directed. In under a month of rehearsal, could leave the whole audience with a smile on their faces — the perfect tribute to all of the beautiful moments Amelia’s quiet artistic talent has offered to the Montrose community. One of the things she is most looking forward to at Holy Cross next year is continuing her tech career there (especially with fellow Montrose alum Isabela Pap ‘24). I am sure many Montrose students will be just as excited to see these as your productions from Montrose!
As the Red Key secretary, Amelia has been the organizational force behind many of the events to welcome in future Mavericks each year. She created a detailed attendance record, chaperoned the Vermont trip, organized games for Admitted Students Night and so much more. None of this devoted work went unnoticed, as Amelia was this year’s recipient of the Red Key award, given to the student who gives the most to the prospective students at every chance through her leadership and personal skills.
Amelia will certainly be remembered for all of these things and so many more, but she has meant so much more to me as somebody I am lucky enough to call both a role model and a friend. Whenever I am struggling with any particular Looking Glass task, Amelia is the first person I know I can ask for help from, and be sure that I will receive gentle and helpful advice with a smile. One of the biggest rewards of joining the newspaper is the chance to make friends in other grades, and this has really come true in regards to Amelia. Whether it is a quick chat in the hallway or our pre-interview discussion of the end to the 2011 Jane Eyre movie (it wasn’t very good!), she quickly became someone who I looked up to as an impressive senior leader to one whom I could call a friend.
So, as you begin your next chapter at Holy Cross next fall, I wish you all the best of luck, Amelia. I know everyone there will appreciate you and the meticulous work that goes into everything you do. I promise that Montrose will never forget all that you have given to our school, from countless hours organizing Red Key events to working through every curveball sending the newsletter thrown at the Looking Glass, to every perfectly run performance. More importantly, I promise that you will always be remembered as the senior everyone could count on as a second mentor and friend. Thank you, Amelia, thank you.
By Elisabeth Smith ‘28, Co-Assistant Editor-in-Chief
28esmith@montroseschool.org
