By Nuriel Moghavem
Varsity boys’ basketball coach Greg Hilliard is the first one here. His red and black Mini Cooper pulls into its spot across from Taper Gymnasium at 5:04 a.m, the night guard unlocks the door to the gym and he enters.
It’s eerily silent at five in the morning. The only sounds come from buzzing fluorescent lights and the roaring air conditioners behind Munger. They can be heard from anywhere on campus.
It’s empty too. An occasional light left on all night (ironically, an AP Environmental Science classroom was one of the few) seen through the early-morning fog gives the illusion of some life on campus. But when one walks into the completely illuminated 2nd floor of Seaver and realizes that one is all alone, a creepy twilight-zone effect strikes. That is, until the night guard (on the sixth of his eight-hour shift), huddled and bundled up with bloodshot eyes, approaches you with a curt “Good morning.”
BY THE DAWN’S EARLY LIGHT: Rohini Bagrodia ’07 prepares to dive into the pool for early morning swim team practice.
The population of the campus doubles within half an hour. An old man in a ROOTS sweatshirt runs on the track as mathematics teacher Kanwaljit Kochar arrives.
“I live in Orange County,” Kochar explains. “I have to beat the traffic. I get here early and get my work done.”
Kochar wakes up at about 3:30 a.m. to make it to the upper school campus, earlier than science teacher Dietrich Schuhl, who arrives at 5:40 a.m. for a 6 a.m. swim practice along with Head of Athletics Audrius Barzdukas and fellow science teacher Wendy Van Norden.
“This is a whole other place in the morning,” Schuhl said. “It’s the best time of the day.”
