Outside of my orientation group, almost all of whose members I never saw again after that first week and six follow-up evening classes, the first person I encountered at Calvin College was Will Montei. Will made me feel infinitely better about moving to college and leaving everyone behind, simply because no matter how sad and alone I felt, at least I wasn’t him.

“Well, we moved all my stuff into my room and I said goodbye to my dad—”

“Describe your dad.”

“Bald.”

“…bald?”

“I mean, he’s not just bald. He’s… I don’t know.”

The audience laughed harder, egged on by the reactions of the improv team. The dozen or so performers looked so much cooler and unapproachable than I could ever be.

Josh deLacy