Jordan Awaits for New Grads

Two recent NMH graduates, Leo Chiquillo ’09 and Hannah Ryan ’09, will be spending a gap-year in Jordan as fellows at King’s Academy starting in August. The boarding school, founded by King Abdullah II three years ago with a ninth-grade class, has added a grade level each year, and lacked upperclassmen to provide leadership. Several fellows from New England boarding schools were asked to be leaders to ninth-, 10th-, and now 11th-graders. Students who attend the school are known as the brightest in the Middle East.

Lorrie Byrom, who led Chiquillo and Ryan on a Model UN trip to Hong Kong earlier this year where both won Best Delegate awards, says the opportunity was one they couldn’t pass up. “They will come to understand the Middle East quite profoundly with a year spent there. Madaba, where the school is located, is a holy site. Moses is said to have stood there looking across the holy land to the Dead Sea. Hannah and Leo will have a chance to travel around Jordan and her neighbors and to rub shoulders with future leaders in other Middle Eastern countries. And they may well get to shake the king’s hand!” Ryan plans to attend Vassar College when she returns, and Chiquillo will head to the University of Richmond.