Dear Saint Patrick,
From the moment I got to St. Pat’s, everyone said it would fly by. I thought that was ridiculous and that four years would feel like four years, but it did fly by and my time at St. Pat’s is almost over. This has prepared me for college. Seeing how fast it went by shows me there’s no time to waste in college. If there’s something I want to achieve I can’t wait for it to fall into my lap. I have to go out and work for it. There’s not enough time to sit around and get to it later. St. Pat’s has shown me how to be a hard worker and an all-around good person.
I know that it’s become sort of a cliche term used at St. Pat’s, but the brotherhood here is nothing like anywhere else. St. Pat’s is its own fraternity that goes way past high school. From the moment I got here I knew I would have friends for life and as a senior now I feel the same exact way. The students at St. Pat’s come from different races, grade schools, and neighborhoods, but we’re all kind of the same. That makes it easy for everyone to get along. As a freshman it was easy to make friends. From football and orientation I had already met most of my close friends before school even started. St. Pat’s offers so many extracurricular activities that it‘s almost impossible not to make friends. Those clubs, groups, teams, etc. are where students find their brothers. The Brotherhood at St. Pat’s really is the best and I don’t think any other school comes close.
I’ve learned values and lessons at St. Pat’s that will help me for the rest of my life. Over the past four years there’s things I’ve been taught that I never would have even thought about. There’s so many different people at St. Pat’s that you could learn from, whether it’s a coach, teacher, or counselor. The people at St. Pat’s really give you multiple perspectives on life and allow you to take away valuable lessons and principles. St. Pat’s not only teaches you the criteria you’re supposed to learn, but they go above and beyond and prepare you for the next chapter in your life.
My time in football not only made me a better player but a better person, friend, and man. Coach Guerra teaches us so much more than football. He teaches us loyalty, responsibility, and general life lessons. I will take these lessons and apply them to my college life. There have been countless times that Coach has talked to us as a team about life, not football. One of the values Coach has taught us that will stick with me is controlling our attitude and effort. It doesn’t matter how big, fast, smart, or strong you are. You can’t always control those things, but what you can control is your effort and attitude. You can control how you approach something and how hard you work to accomplish it. You can control whether you give up if something is hard or if you work even harder to achieve it. You can apply that in sports, class, clubs, and even the workplace.
Through my four years at St. Pat’s I’ve made a lot of friends and memories but I’ve also matured from my freshman self. I will take what I learned here and apply it to not only college but to the rest of my adult life. There’s so much I’ve learned here that has given me values to live by in my adult life. The diverse community of St. Pat’s has taught me about different backgrounds and lifestyles of others. Through retreats you learn more about your classmates’ personal lives and it gives you a better understanding of what many others experience. It gets you ready to be successful as an adult. I loved my four years at St. Pat’s and will remember my time here forever.
Sincerely,
Matthew Dahlstrom ’21
To read more letters from the Class of 2021, click here.
