Besides the obvious factors like the opportunities these schools provide, the community, etc. The main drive for me is the fact that growing up in Russia, I was extremely unaware politically. Then 2022 happened and my mom moved us to Europe all on her own just to give me and my brother an environment where we could express our opinion freely and not be scared for our lives when trying to voice our opinion. When I truly realised how criminally unaware I was of what was going on in my country all these years I realised that I’ve never experienced a truly open society. I also realised what a terrible crime my country committed and just to sum up I believe I owe so many people affected by this conflict (and many other conflicts all over the world) to become an advocate for change. So, by immersing myself in the diverse and intellectually demanding systems U.S. boarding schools, I really mainly just hope to gain the skills and insights necessary to help “turn up” the voices of those who have been silenced and work toward a more just and equitable world. From what I’ve seen and read, these schools are exactly the place for that. The seminars and events they do are also mind blowing to me, in a good way, as a person raised in Russia. (for example, Im pretty sure that recently in Exeter Andrew Weiss shared his insights into Vladimir Putin and the Ukraine War have been honed over 30 years working in the White House, State Department and Pentagon, I’d kill to be there to listen to him and so many other people visiting these schools to share their knowledge). And also, just the range of the classes these schools offer, I was going through the class catalogues. TENS OF PAGES of classes and extracurriculars to choose from. I mean, are you kidding me? To actually study the niche areas that have always interested you but usually you only spend a month going into in a standard English/History/Science class? Insane. I mean, I could go for hours