Noe Jimenez (A16) is a student at St. John’s College in Annapolis. Imperial wicket of the croquet team and intramural captain, he talks about how he came to St. John’s and his plans after he graduates. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

St. John’s College: Why did you decide to come to St. John’s?

Noe Jimenez: There was an article that appeared in The New Yorker that was labeled “Where I Learned to Read,” and St. John’s was on my radar then. It wasn’t until I visited the school—I sat in on an Aristotle’s Ethics seminar and it was just amazing, mesmerizing conversation. The attraction to St. John’s was how different it was from other programs and having it resonate with me as what I wanted from myself out of the education.

SJC: How was your first semester at the college?

NJ: I just loved it. It was really stressful, of course, readjusting to this way of thinking about problems . . . and texts. After my first semester, I became very well adjusted to the atmosphere and the classroom etiquette and the way class was run. I felt like I belonged and people knew my name and said hi, and it was a really warm environment that I could feel safe in but also have the opportunity to grow into, and that was one of the main reasons I stayed.

SJC: What surprised you most when you arrived?

NJ: How much I looked forward to meals. I didn’t realize how much the dining hall was the hub, especially as a freshman because there are still so many people living on campus. You are always sitting with your friends . . . and always finding new conversations, which is great because the whole school has the same meal times and makes you feel included and part of something bigger than yourself—you’re all in it together.

SJC: What did you write your senior essay on?

NJ: I wrote my senior essay on the Aeneid, and how Aeneas as a character seems to [be] a vessel or a man without a direct sense of purpose—he’s so often directed by the gods towards founding Rome or going towards Italy and beginning the sequence that will lead to the great city of Rome, which Virgil’s writing to expound. My essay focused on how Aeneas in his wanderings, though he may seem [to be] a vessel, is in fact developing a sense of purpose throughout his journeying.

SJC: What are your plans after you graduate?

NJ: I’m going to be an RA for the Summer Academy. Adam Bender (A16) has asked me if I would be willing to be an assistant coach at a high school he is going to be working at, and I have happily agreed. I’ll be doing a lot of [coaching] soccer once I graduate, which I’m really looking forward to—getting some licenses, taking some classes. If I ended up as a coach somewhere, the opportunity to go overseas and coach, that’d be a dream come true.

—Brady Lee (AGI14)