By Kira Lu ‘20, Editor in Chief

There’s a certain value placed on self-made success, suggesting that hard work and initiative outweighs past circumstances on the winding path to success. The environment at Newark Academy is no different– being able to take credit for one’s success academically, artistically, and athletically is at the core of how we view success at school. Perhaps it’s why most people would characterize Newark Academy students as hardworking and competitive: these traits attribute success to the individual effort, but the reality is that there are countless factors to success that are completely out of our control. As Malcolm Gladwell writes in Outliers, achieving success is not what it seems: “We cling to the idea that success is a simple function of individual merit and that the world in which we all grow up and the rules we choose to write as a society don’t matter at all.” In Gladwell’s opening chapter, he points out that small differences in intellect and strength, that can be attributed to coincidences like age, grow into large confidence issues and changing perspectives on self over time, discouraging people from trying new skills. In a world where success seems to be in limited supply, students hesitate to try new things when they have already built up a stock of “individual merit” in something else.

Oftentimes, success doesn’t seem as if it is based on improving and seeking out new skills and passions, but rather clinging to what you are already good at. Although the annual Upper School club fair encourages students to sign up for every club at Newark Academy, clubs are actually more exclusive than they are advertised: it’s hard to start without basic knowledge because trivial differences and environmental factors have already grown into seemingly impossibly large knowledge gaps. With this exclusivity, maybe students at Newark Academy are almost discouraged from trying new things, so they stick to what they already know. Reflecting on her club experience in freshman year, Kylie Bill ‘21 recalls, “I joined math club in the first place because I’ve always been very passionate about environmental science and it made me feel like I had to be a hardcore STEM student. I didn’t start in calculus or 3/4 in freshman year so I felt behind compared to other students, which made me feel like I had to ‘catch up’ somehow, even though looking back I shouldn’t have felt that way and starting in calculus freshman year is very rare. So one day a friend took me to another club, Outdoors Club. As I mentioned before, I love nature, and this club gave me a chance to apply my passion into something more recreational and less school and college oriented.” Kylie’s experience is shared by several NA students, and is hardly unique to just math club; sports teams and arts share similar forms of unintentional exclusivity based on prior qualifications that have been building up for years in some cases. Even though most of these clubs are advertised as “no experience necessary,” it can definitely be intimidating to work alongside peers who have extensive experience when you are just a beginner. A math club connoisseur adds, “You know those ‘all levels welcome’ auditions for student-led dances where everyone who auditions already has a lot of dance experience? That’s kind of what Math Club is like sometimes.” Returning to Gladwell’s Outliers, this hesitancy to try new clubs is associated with an assumption that by high school, gaps in skills are already so developed that trying new things seems an impossible task, but that is far from the truth. Everyone wants to take credit for their skills, and dedication and hardwork are definitely a huge part of success, but ignoring the pre-existing qualifications many people come in with puts an unfair pressure on beginners to succeed– so much so that in many cases, beginners are discouraged from even trying at all. Through the growth mindset valued so highly in the NA community, we should continue to strive not only for wins, awards, and tangible success, but redefine success as exploration, learning, discovery, and other more abstract forms of success.

The fear attached to trying new things isn’t just limited to student-choreographed dance pieces or math club, but also extends towards activities, such as robotics club or sports, where most people come in already ahead of the curve and there is a strict definition of skills. In contrast, this fear is erased in clubs such as Outdoors Club; as Sophia Emanuel ‘20, Outdoors Club Co-President, puts it, “You have to want to be a little adventurous, and own sneakers, but that’s about it.” But by focusing on the growth mindset, we can encourage students to try new things, even those in which their peers may already seem many years ahead of them, and develop a more open-minded community. When asked what he would say to someone reluctant to join math club because they didn’t feel qualified, Parth Sarkar ‘21 reassures, “It’s not about who’s good at math; you just go to work on problem-solving skills. The thing about problem-solving skills is that it doesn’t only help you for math, it helps you for everything– it helps me analyze problems.” By trying new things, students can equip themselves with skills they can use in different ways. Furthermore, by continuing to value growth alongside success, we can encourage students to break the mold they may feel confined in and seek out their passion.