Scholars Trip to Emily Dickinson Museum

By Maya Stoilova

Scholars students and their advisor, Mr. O’Donnell, toured the Emily Dickinson Museum in Amherst, Massachusetts. Students had the opportunity to visit the home of the famous 19th century American poet Emily Dickinson and learn more about her life.

I am standing under the oak tree, fall leaves dancing around my feet. It’s a nice afternoon in Amherst, western Massachusetts. The other CATS Academy Scholars are in the Emily Dickinson museum while I sit in the garden, hiding from them, the same way Emily hid from the world. I am alone with her poetry, her “Success is Counted Sweetest” laying in between my fingers. She writes, “Success is counted sweetest / By those who ne’er succeed.”

Shortly before I finish reading the poem, Mr. O’Donnell manages to find me. “Trouble,” he says (probably for the tenth time this week) before he makes me get back to the house.

Minutes later, a friendly tour guide shows us around Emily’s home (now a museum). We learn about Dickinson, a poet who lived her life in seclusion, sharing her deepest desires with her one and only true confidant—her hidden poems. Her lines–oftentimes separated by dashes–tell stories of life and death, sorrow and joy.

After the tour, we walk out into the sunny October afternoon. Stunned, surprised, shaken, our conversations revolve around Emily Dickinson and her lonely life as we walk toward Amherst College, one of the top liberal arts schools in the United States. I sigh, releasing a breath along with the hope to ever get into that school. We stroll around the college campus taking pictures and laughing out loud.

Before we know it, the night rolls on just like we rolled down the Amherst hills. Literally. The big white van takes us back home as we laugh (almost hysterically) and talk about our day–how great it was!