Alumni Spotlight
I love when people do cool stuff!! And while a delicious panini from a new New York City hot spot is what has inspired me to write this blog, the “meat” (if you will) of this story is about relationships formed over the years at Tyler Hill!
My first summer at Tyler Hill was in 1993 and I was a Group Leader in bunk one. One of my campers that summer was Michael Grant, whom I had the pleasure of watching grow up year after year at THC until he ultimately became a staff member. After Michael left Tyler Hill, we ultimately lost touch as he “grew up” and moved into the real world. When I saw Michael again at a mutual friend’s wedding last year (makes me feel so young that we have mutual friends now), Michael shared with me the news that he was just about to give up his super safe and successful life as a finance professional in NYC to open a panini shop. But not just any panini shop…the only New York panini shop of its kind. This panini shop is the New York outpost of Antico Noe – the one and only Florence, Italy-based Antico Noe. Having never been to Florence I had never heard of this little hole in wall place called Antico Noe that apparently has a cult following and brings people to their knees.
When I saw Michael again last week at our ”30-something” THC alumni reunion in NYC, I was thrilled to hear that his crazy dream was now a reality and Antico Noe was officially open and feeding hungry New Yorkers lunch and dinner every day. It didn’t take long for me to check it out myself. Just two nights later Wendy and I stood in line to see for ourselves what this cult following is all about — and I will confirm that it was well worth the wait. While I won’t go into details about the different sandwiches and offerings, I will say that Wendy and I fought one another for the last bite of each of the sandwiches we tried! Antico Noe is well worth the hype!
And while it may seem that the point of this post is to send you there to try out the paninis there, it’s actually just to express how proud we are of Michael and how great it feels to maintain these long-lasting relationships with former THC’ers. Nothing makes us happier than to hear about alumni doing amazing things and following their dreams.
Meanwhile, if you happen to be around midtown Manhattan (53rd between 2nd and 3rd) be sure to stop by NYC’s newest and best panini shop – ANTICO NOE . Make sure you say hello to Michael and let him know you too are part of the Tyler Hill family. He’s come a long way from the days in bunk one where he couldn’t keep track of socks and t-shirts and needed me to cut his food for himJ