How do you claim a tradition as yours? For me and the three other new upperclassmen, integration into Parker and making its traditions our own is a challenging task.

“Tradition” means an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior. The “inheritance” part interests me: I’m very conscious of the fact that by becoming a Parker student, I am inheriting the traditions that make this school unique. But being a new upperclassman–a junior or a senior–complicates our adopting tradition because, while we’re trying to integrate with and identify with a new school, we’re simultaneously being prepped to leave. It is telling that we spent more than half of our one day of Bridge in the College Counseling office.

As someone who joined Parker as a junior, I never sat on the Sophomore Bench, or went on the Freshman Retreat, and it’s easy to feel as though some of the badges I’m supposed to have collected to label myself a Colonel are missing. It’s a little bit like coming in on the middle of a Netflix series that all of your friends have been watching from the beginning. You have to ask yourself if it’s worth it to try to catch up, or if perhaps it’s better just to start from where you are, knowing that you’re missing some plot points but can follow along reasonably well.

This issue isn’t unique to Parker. There are new students around the world every day learning to navigate their latest situations. But Parker is notable for its sheer mass of traditions, which I think contribute to why students here feel so connected to the school.

Initially, though, these traditions did the opposite for me: I felt less connected to the community because I couldn’t understand the customs at its core.

During the Corinthians Morning Ex, for example, I was sitting next to my fellow new junior, Harriet Fardon, waiting for our turn to officially claim a Piece of the House. I mentioned to her that I was having a hard time understanding what was going on. “Why are the 8th graders wearing those shirts?” “What’s up with these bells?” “Wait, what house?”

It’s going to be interesting to see if by the time we graduate, these traditions will be as meaningful to me as they are to my peers, but I think that it’s possible to appreciate a tradition even if you don’t have a longstanding history with it.

There’s a difference between confusion and exclusion, and I’ve come to realize that just because I have yet to understand some of Parker’s practices doesn’t mean that I can’t claim them as mine.

Although it seems unlikely that my experience with my next–and final–Corinthians Morning Ex will be the same as those of my friends who have been here their whole lives, there’s value in shared tradition. I can appreciate those that Parker lays out for me; next year I still get to be a Big Sister and participate in Twelve Days, while still forging my own significant connections with aspects of the school. The classrooms, hallways, and people of Parker have already left their mark on me.

As we move into the season of County Fair and the Thanksgiving Morning Ex, I will be learning not only what each of these traditions is but also what each means to my grade and to the school as a whole. With each Parker tradition I inherit, my personal collection of meaningful events and customs only grows.

I may not totally understand the bagpipes and sports clapping, and, as a junior, I’m already supposed to be thinking about what comes after high school. But in a way I feel lucky because parachuting in as a new student has allowed me to see the uniqueness and charm of traditions that may have become wallpaper to many long-term Parker students.

For me they might always feel new–and maybe that’s not a bad thing after all.