Aaron Silidker ‘99

I currently run a small business in North Branford called RoamRig. We make electrical parts/accessories for a very narrow niche of the camper van market, specifically for Sprinters and one model of Sprinter based van called the Winnebago Revel. The Country School always encouraged independence and finding your "thing" as a student. The spirit of independence and exploration at Country is certainly something I've carried with me through my education and career. The Country School 100000% encouraged me to explore and tinker. Tinkering has and will always be my "thing." It led me to my business. 

There are LOTS of Country School teachers and experiences that center around independent thinking and exploration...for me, that was tinkering. 

I will give you a specific one about Chris Wallack. At some point, Country School had a device for painting lines on the fields. As a kid who always, ALWAYS loved tinkering with machines, I thought this one was super cool. Put some paint in, start an engine, pull a handle, and paint comes shooting out. One day during gym class, Mr. Wallack let me play with the line striping machine. Clearly this was only barely adjacent to gym class and physical activity, but he allowed it. He trusted me.

Another fun mechanical-related memory was The Country School auction in 1996 or so. As an 11 year old, I donated an oil change for someone's car. Former Head of School Ed Blatchford bought it, and I changed the oil in his Honda Accord. What other school would have a headmaster who lets an 11-year-old change their car's oil and filter? Mr. Blatchford’s wife, Claire, a hearing-impaired woman, let me, then a 5th Grader, call her on a TTY system because I was so interested in learning how it worked, which leads me to another fun story: my desk alarm. 

The summer before 5th Grade, I took an electronics class at the Eli Whitney museum and built an electronic alarm with a very loud buzzer that would sound (and stay on until reset) when someone opened a door. When I arrived to school that fall, I learned that there were two 5th Grade homerooms, and we used to move from one room to another. The tops of our desks lifted up, allowing us to store all of our belongings. Kids from the other class used to go through my desk, which irritated me. Thankfully, my homeroom teacher, Mr. Krugman, indulged my passion for tinkering. He let me install the alarm I had made that summer on my desk so that no one could go in there.

The Country School was a place that recognized that I liked to tinker and explore, and my teachers definitely nurtured that wherever possible. As an adult I marvel at how wild it was–in a good way–that Country School let me be me and let me explore and build.