I’ll Miss the People

From Fort Lee, New Jersey, Quinn Suarez ’26 and his parents Juan Suarez and Karen Rule P’26 talk about what led them to choose Cardigan, how they persevered through adversity, and who they’ll miss now that Quinn has matriculated to The Loomis Chaffee School.

Emily Magnus: Can you describe for me the day you arrived on campus as a seventh grader? 

Quinn: When I was in seventh grade, the first day I got here, I was pretty sick. I had a bad stomach virus. I was of course excited to be here. It was a bummer though that for my first few days I was extremely sick.

Juan: I didn’t go to boarding school, and so it was new to me–letting him go that early. Quinn’s cousin went away to school, and I was confused when his parents sent him that early. Tommy didn’t even know how to cross the street. What was he going to do alone at a boarding school? And I felt the same thing for Quinn, and we were sending him even further away. So yeah, it was a tough ride home, very emotional, letting him go and trusting that he was going to be in good hands.

Karen: Quinn didn’t know it at the time, but our host family had recommended that we stay and get to know the area. So we dropped Quinn off and he didn’t know we were staying. But it was a good thing we did because he was here for 24 hours, and we got a call from the infirmary to say, “I think you need to go to the hospital.”

Juan: So we spent the next night at the hospital, and you can imagine I was still questioning.

Karen: For me, it was, “Oh my God, what are we doing here?” too. But the cool thing was that once he got an IV and felt much better, we got him back here, and he literally hugged us and was like, “I’m out, I’m gone.” And that’s when we knew it was going to be okay.

Emily: What surprised you about Cardigan?

Quinn: How valuable it is not to have a phone. For me personally, I don’t think it would really matter. I think I’d still be outside if I had a phone. But I know a lot of kids here who wouldn’t be outside with their friends as much and hanging out as much if they had their phones.

Emily: How would you describe yourself as a student? Has that changed?

Quinn: I feel like my perspective as a student has not really changed. I’m a good student. I’m a pretty hard worker.

Karen: Well, what did you just tell us about Where the Crawdads Sing?

Quinn: Oh yeah, I did really like a book I just read. But that was just really recently.

Karen: Quinn has never been a reader. I shouldn’t say that. He’ll read a magazine cover to cover about hockey or sometimes about history. But sitting down and reading a traditional book was never Quinn’s thing.

Quinn: I was more of a comic book kind of kid.

Karen: Yeah. But he called us and said, “Mom, this book is—” So I read it, and I loved it.

Quinn: I mean, like, I wouldn’t say I’m the brightest bulb in the bunch, but I try, you know?

Karen: No, yeah, you’re an average student who works hard, and that’s huge. That’s a life lesson in itself.

Juan: And that’s one of the things that Cardigan, I think, taught him. The students don’t even realize it when they’re here; they have to do so much on their own at their age; the rest of the world is not doing that. They have brothers and sisters, dads and moms, helping them. And Cardigan keeps the students so busy. I think it is impressive what they do every day, Monday through Saturday. Kids in the real world, they get out of school at three o’clock, and their day is done. Here at three o’clock, their day has just started.

How valuable it is not to have a phone. For me personally, I don’t think it would really matter. I think I’d still be outside if I had a phone. But I know a lot of kids here who wouldn’t be outside with their friends as much and hanging out as much if they had their phones.- Quinn Suarez ’26

Emily: Quinn, do you remember the moment when you first felt you belonged in the Cardigan community? What was happening and who was there?

Quinn: When I was in seventh grade, I used to play a lot of wiffle ball on the turf with all the varsity baseball guys. That was really fun, and I felt really involved and included, which, of course, as a little seventh grader felt really good. 

Karen: When we came back to campus last year too, Quinn said, “I don’t need to go to dinner. Is that okay? Can I go down to the turf?” And we said, “That’s good. Yeah. Go down to the turf.” He didn't want to be with us necessarily. This was becoming home. Right? What did we say from the get-go? This is your adventure.

Emily: Has Cardigan changed you?

Quinn: I think I’m way more mature. I think I’ve become a lot better at problem-solving and leading.

Emily: The question can also apply to you, Juan and Karen. How has Cardigan changed you as parents? 

Juan: From dropping him off to now, I trust him so much. Who am I to challenge him when he’s by himself most of the time? When he comes home, I have to remember that; I have to let him go, right? He can’t come home like he’s going into a cage. We’re not doing that–we’re just trusting him. He’s going to Loomis next year, and I know he’s going to be fine.

Karen: And I think the thing we’ve experienced with Quinn is that he’ll reach out when he needs help. He’ll call us and say, “I need help,” or “I’m struggling with this,” and I think that’s a life lesson.

Quinn: That’s something too. I feel like I’ve become more of a self-advocate as well. 

Karen: I think you're missing one challenge. What was your biggest challenge this year?

Quinn: My knee. Hockey. Yeah, my knee.

Karen: No, it’s not making varsity.

Quinn: Oh, well, that’s—I guess that’s a challenge. 

Karen: Because you took it as a challenge, and what did you do with that? Did you sit there and say, “I’m giving up?” No. What did you do?

Quinn: I worked harder.

Karen: You double practiced. You played on both teams. So you were training like 24 hours a week. It made it hard with academics, but what happened out of that?

Quinn: I caught up.

Karen: You got caught up and you got to play varsity for the rest of the season. 

Juan: And don’t think that goes unnoticed. The adults notice it, but there’s some young kid, a young student looking at you going, I remember when Quinn did that. 

Karen: We’re just very proud of you. We’re always going to be here to support you. What do the coaches say? They see potential in you, and we see that too every day. And that’s part of what’s been so important about Cardigan; it’s letting you rise to your potential, whatever that is that you want. It’s letting you get there.

Emily: What will you miss?

Quinn: By far the people. I know many kids here who don’t think they enjoy it, but then when they have to leave their friends and maybe not see half these kids ever again, that’s so hard. When I get that tie and get in the handshake line at Commencement, that’s going to be really hard for me.

Karen: We’re going to miss the kids too. Sosuke is like our second son. I just talked to his parents this morning. And, you know, some of the boys we’ve been with for three years too, so you get to know them, you see them on the teams. And then definitely we’re going to miss some faculty. All the people that he’s mentioned who have supported him all the way through, we’re very close to as well.

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