NMH Magazine : Winter 2004

Wilfredo Perez '04

“Going to this school has given me self confidence. I feel like I can go out into the world and people will know who I am and where I come from.”

Will Perez used to gaze at the towers of Dolben Library when he and his mother traveled down Route 10; to him, it looked like a castle. He thought the students at such a school were the luckiest kids in the world. But he never thought he’d be one of them. NMH didn’t seem like the kind of place that kids who’ve been homeless attend.

	Will Perez and Bill Nordstrom

Will’s French-Canadian mother, Lori, had him when she was 15; his brother and sister were born within the next three years. Their father was never in the picture, leaving Lori to raise the children on her own. She took nearly any job she could find, from gas station attendant to factory worker. Still there was never enough money. 

In 1997 she moved the family from Waterbury, Connecticut, to Ashuelot, New Hampshire, in search of a better life. “We moved up here with absolutely nothing,” says Will. “All we had was myself, my brother, my sister, and my mom.” At first they were homeless, but they found a place and Lori started to get back on her feet. She enrolled Will at Pioneer Valley Regional School in Northfield, renting a tiny cottage in Massachusetts to establish residency.

Will thrived at Pioneer. His first year, he was elected class president and student congress president, joined all the diversity groups, and became top academic student in his class. Then his guidance counselor recommended him for the Upward Bound program at NMH, a series of college-prep summer sessions for students who are the first in their families to consider college.

“Does it cost anything?” was Will’s first question. Not only was the program free, it would cover such costs as college counseling and applications. Will applied and was accepted. After his first summer, NMH offered him a full scholarship—the Thomas Nelson Baker Fellowship—to become a regular student. 

Will entered NMH in 2002 as a junior, terrified of being a washout. What if he couldn’t keep up? No problem: he blazed the same glory path he’d followed at Pioneer, taking on student leadership roles, doing outreach work, getting highest honors. He did have one rough patch last spring, after several businesses his mother had started went under and the family became homeless again. He took an incomplete in English, helped his mother sort out her bills, and the family got through it.

At the end of his junior year, Will won the Henry F. Cutler Scholar Award, the most prestigious award offered to an underclassman. He also won the Anne Waline Outreach Prize for his volunteer work on more than a dozen service projects, including Big Brothers Big Sisters, United Way, and Habitat for Humanity. The outreach prize carried a $500 award, which Will immediately earmarked for Operation Happy Birthday, a project he dreamed up that provides birthday parties and gifts for needy local children.

This year Will is a student leader in East Hall, the ninth-grade boys dorm, offering his remarkable brand of ebullience to NMH novitiates. His résumé runs to two pages and includes chair of the outreach board of directors and member of the head’s advisory committee, the Spanish/Latino Student Association, and the board of deacons. When he graduates, he’ll be the first in his family to finish high school.

He’s already set his sights on becoming a forensic psychologist, a pediatrician, or a small-town doctor—or maybe all three. Will has applied to 12 colleges, including Harvard, Bowdoin, and Brown. He’s chosen only New England colleges so he can stay close enough to help his family. Gaining admission is just half the battle; he’ll need a full scholarship to be able to attend.
But things are looking good, all in all. His mother just got a car for the first time in three years. His younger brother and sister are well on their way to being the next Perezes to graduate high school, and the fact that Will has applied to Harvard is the talk of the house. He says with a smile, “They’re like, ‘This kid is going to be something.’” 

My NMH Hero

I give Bill Nordstrom credit for everything I’ve been able to do at NMH. He’s been my mentor and best friend. He’s the person I go to when I ace a test, when I have a date, when I need advice. Out of everyone, he’s the person I trust the most.

He taught me chemistry when I was at Upward Bound. I told him how nervous I was about coming to NMH. He told me, “You’re going to do great—I can tell just from this class.”

Bill works as a lab technician—he’s in charge of setting up labs for all the science departments. Last year I worked with him as a chemistry aide. This is where my love for the sciences, chemistry in particular, came to be. It wasn’t long before I was applying what he’d taught me about chemistry toward everyday situations. I still go there every week and volunteer my time. We talk about anything and everything. We’ll be making silver nitrate and talking about politics.

He’s taught me to appreciate life and everything it offers, 
to overcome setbacks, and to never lose faith.