Please tell us why you should stay at this school.
Mr. Gallagher, if you would like to say anything on your own behalf, now is the time.
Nothing? Very well, then...
I'm really smart, sir. I'd read all of Jane Austen by the time I was 12. Including her lesser-known work, Lady Susan, which is a severely underrated piece of feminist literature. Um... My father, uh, he has kind of a brilliant mind. You know, and that's... That's a pretty hard thing for me to admit, because he's such a waste of space and all, but... you know, it's true. I can also debate the inherent difference between existentialism and transcendentalism, explaining why Sartre is the prominent voice of the former, and the latter is barely remembered as a philosophical movement. He could have been a college graduate, but instead, he dropped out, uh, he fucked up his kids, and he drinks, and does drugs. That's his whole life. I can also gauge the depths of Mr. Hendricks' personal despair based on his choice of Hawaiian shirt. I want to be around people like Professor Youens. And Professor Runyon, even though she... It's minds like theirs... um... you know, these minds that... That are brilliant, you know, and they aren't wasted. I, uh, I don't have any big ideas about what I want to do with my life, but [chuckles] I'm really smart. This morning I was washing dishes at the diner where I work, and Professor Youens called me, and I thought... "I miss that." You know, I don't miss the kids who grew up so privileged they didn't even know what they had. But I miss being around people with minds like Professor Youens', you know. I just got unlucky in the family department. And I think if I could get a couple more years of that, I'd have a real good shot at, uh... making some better choices than my father made. I don't get any support. And sometimes I do the wrong thing. I don't blame anybody else for what I did, and I do regret it. But But if you guys would have me back, I know I can be better. And if you give me a second chance, I-I promise, you know, I'll... I will not waste it. I'll do better. Thank you.
Thank you, Maeve.