Lily Mongan, a graduate of the Amagansett School, has spent most of her high school career abroad, learning languages and dreaming of one day being accepted at Oxford University in England. Her dream has come true.
According to officials at the Amagansett School, which Lily attended from second through sixth grades, she will be the first of its students to attend Oxford.
“I was very surprised at receiving an offer from Oxford. I thought the interviews had gone well, but somehow I never really thought that I would be offered a place,” she said this week. “I couldn’t really believe it when I received the letter, and just went on with my day. My roommate Annia saw it, though, and was absolutely beside herself — jumping up and down with excitement. Then I realized that it was really happening.”
Fluent in French with a working knowledge of other languages, Lily said she plans to study — or “read,” as they say in England — modern languages, specifically French and Czech. She will be a member of St. Hilda’s College at the university.
She is the daughter of Anna Bernasek, an Amagansett School Board member, and Dan Mongan, who is president of the Amagansett Library’s board of trustees.
Lily warmly recalled her years at Amagansett, East Hampton Middle School, and East Hampton High School, where she spent the ninth grade, and said she was grateful for the academic foundation she received here. “There is simply no other place like Amagansett, and I think the school really reflects the uniqueness of our wonderful community,” she said. “I don’t know if I would have developed the same passion for learning had I not benefited from the attention of the amazing teachers at the Amagansett School, something that carried on through middle school and high school in East Hampton.”
She currently attends the Bedales School, a boarding school in Hampshire, England, about an hour and a half southwest of London. She will have completed the sixth form there by the end of this term, the equivalent of the junior and senior years at an American high school. She likes Bedales, she said, has many wonderful friends there, and loves the school’s focus on arts and the humanities. “I still miss East Hampton, though, particularly during sports or anytime I step outside. It really is always raining here!” she said.
As a very young child, Lily attended a Montessori school in New York City. Before going to Bedales, she was a student at the Lycée Rene Descartes, a public school in Antony, France, living with a French host family.
Her proud parents called her accomplishments “her own.”
“In my personal opinion, Lily had great instruction at Amagansett School and the East Hampton schools from many dedicated and effective educators,” Mr. Mongan said.
A dedicated fan of J.R.R. Tolkien, Lily said “The Lord of the Rings” and his other writings inspired her to apply to Oxford. “I’m excited to meet people with similar interests to my own, but I’d be lying if I said that I was most excited about something other than simply living in Oxford,” she said. “When visiting for my interviews, I felt like I was on a film set. Walking by the Bodleian, and over Magdalen Bridge and through the deer park, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the city.”
This summer, before she begins her studies at the university, Lily will come back to Amagansett. She has worked at Amber Waves Farm in the past; this time she will be an East Hampton Town lifeguard.
“I’ve been extremely lucky to have received incredible opportunities and support,” she said. “To a certain extent, however, I think you have to forge your own path a bit. Talk to people and learn as much as you can, but figure out what works for you. I would advise anyone dreaming of Oxbridge or the Ivies to shoot for it. You really don’t know ’til you try!”