from his witticisms at staff meetings and the boisterous shouts down
the hall from his office, to the wisdoms read from warrior of the
light, thoughtful advice, and engulfing bear hugs, the spirit of piotr
dabrowski is one to be reckoned with. as a colleague, he brings a
spark and dynacism to the office; as a friend, a lively, thoughtful,
and adventurous spirit to even mundane activities. when i consider the
absence we will feel next week, it's hard to believe this unique
person will ever be replaced.
in my first "real" job out of college, i had no idea i would come to
work with this variety of characters in admissions. from the first
time i met him, piotr has been a large part of this past year's
transition for me, and a big part of our fellow northfield residents'
lives. a fellow "townie," we became fast friends with the help of our
little northfield contingent, always ready for a drink with the
incomparable "baby-mama" at the Cow or some music at the Tavern. the
quieter times included half-price hot dogs at Tiny's or a reading
session at Blue Monday; the larger blowouts involved hours-long
sessions of Rock Band, wiffle ball tournaments, or pounding music at a
minneapolis club on valentine's day. nothing slows him down, and in
turn, those in his presence (us) feel a new spark to life when we
spend time with him. from the first few times we hung out, i realized
"this is someone who is always game." piotr told me early on about his
personal rule not to turn down any invitation "unless i already have
plans." this made for some epic adventures. and adventure? the word is
synonymous to piotr. he embodies it in the way i've come to embody
"caffeine." he lives it, breathes it, and is always up for it -- if
it's not fun, he makes it that way immediately with simply a radical
outburst (i.e. "I'M GETTING JACKED FOR JANUARY"). in the past year,
without hesitation, piotr traveled to multiple foreign destinations,
including a lovely five day trip to ireland with kevin. he meets new
people with the ease of flipping a switch. his natural charisma is
undeniable, yet contributes to his genuine personality. these made him
a fantastic admissions officer (and according to some, "the best in
all the land"), but more importantly, it makes him someone who is
eager to see the world. and, in this case, the world is eager to get
to know piotr.
in piotr's absence, we will miss a fantastic, hard-working, passionate
colleague; a lively presence all around the office; "piotr points" and
the prizes they entail; super-human tolerance of sweets (especially
chocolate and mini-eclairs); and a spirit of levity, appropriately
present to calm a tense situation. piotr has an innate ability to
unite and include people -- not only among the officers, but also with
support staff, student workers, and people around campus, like penny
in the cage. in my four years as a student, i never saw cage employees
be so easily charmed into passing over a free doughnut to someone.
piotr could convince them without their immediate realization.
however, along with this humorous, outgoing side to piotr is an
incredible sensitivity for others' feelings. i have never heard piotr
say anything negative about anyone -- and in an office with such a
variety of personalities, this is pretty incredible. a lot of us share
this observation: piotr inspires us to be better. i am inspired by the
way he refrains from even the most flippant of complaints or
criticisms. his honesty is always certain, but never mean-spirited.
this is probably one of the reasons why he will be a Chinese
television reality superstar...
so, we all agree: we will miss our buddy, but this is an incredibly
fitting next step for dear piotr. for someone who will see the world,
we are lucky to have had him here as long as we did. from poland to
chicago to northfield (by way of san diego, denver, pennsylvania, and
where else?) to China, it has been quite a ride. we're excited to see
where his spirit leads him.
in the spirit of the warrior of the light (or is it the michigan
tourist board?): "when we get to a place where no one knows us, we
become most ourselves."
congratulations on this next opportunity, friend. be well and prosper!
(The above was written last year for a send-off for Piotr, currently working and thriving in China. My apologies for the hastily-written/punctuated format - saying goodbye to a close friend made it hard to dot i's and cross t's at the time.)
No comments:
Post a Comment