Arturo King Prosperi is a senior resident student from Venezuela. He has attended Darlington for two years and is the Head Residential Prefect of Moser House.
What do you love most about Darlington?
The sense of community that Darlington brings you, and the sense of unity that as soon as you arrive you’re greeted by a place with people who understand you and know your experiences. For example, as a new boarding student you arrive at a dorm and you’re nervous because you’re far away from home. But there’s also a lot of people who are far away from home, so they understand you and help you to feel better and more at home. It really helps you settle in if you’re new. Then, through the years, the bonds become stronger, and you make lifetime friends from really far away places.
What makes senior year special?
Since you’re so focused on college and try to keep your grades up, you really just stop caring and start to see the fun in every activity. Then, you don’t see an activity as something you have to do, but you get more freedom to do an activity and have fun with it because you really like it. Once you get into the college mood, you start enjoying more of the school because you realize that you’re about to leave. It also gives you the feeling that you really need to connect with everything that you will leave behind. So, you get to know more people, get to connect more with the teachers and get to do more stuff because you want to leave something at this school.
Who has been your best teacher -- not necessarily your favorite, but who taught you the most?
I would have to say Mr.
John Cox because his class makes you engage. He always gives you a book that you actually want to read for fun and not just for preparing for a reading quiz the next day, and you want to keep going even after you finish the reading. You even ask for time in class to continue reading because it’s a really exciting part. Then, the rest of the class is just discussing the reading and developing theories, and you just keep thinking and connecting the points. His class gives you a lot of freedom, but it has really helped me to expand my critical thinking and to expand creatively.
How has Darlington shaped your future?
Darlington has given me a lot more opportunities than I would have had back home. The honors and AP courses have really helped me, and they make me feel that I’m at an class level that is appropriate for my learning. I’m placed with people that are already at my same level, so whenever I have a question or a discussion I know that I can talk with and trust the people in my class; I know that they will understand my point of view and will also have their own points of view at a level that we can have a formal discussion and benefit from it.
