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Dear Amy: An Open Letter to Amy McGrath
Dear Amy,
As a fellow alumna of Notre Dame Academy, I feel a connection with you. So I am going to talk to you like a sister.
Did you ever have a class in Room 312? That weird little room that was up an extra staircase, tucked away in a back corner that no one ever went to?
That was my homeroom freshman year. I bet you can picture it — me walking into the building on the first day, nervous and disoriented, walking back and forth on the third floor. 310, 311 — but no room 312. I walked up and down the hall again. 308, 309, 310, 311 — and the end of the hall and stairs down to the rest of the building. I could have cried.
Finally, the fear of being late to homeroom overcame the fear of talking to one of the older students, and I asked. She guided me to the opposite end of the hallway, back towards room 301, and I feared that she was going to play some cruel joke. I was about to be hazed or teased or covered in something sticky. But, no, like a miracle, just outside the hall door from room 301, was a staircase that went up (wait — this building only has three floors??) She gently pointed up the stairs and smiled at me. Up that hidden half staircase, I found room 312. The girls already in the room smiled and we huddled together, so grateful to be safely home(room.) Each new girl who staggered, wide-eyed…