Nayan Ghosh

At NMH, we have what we call core courses. It’s where two teachers work together and intertwine their subjects into a sort of super class. My favorite was Humanities II, combining history and religion. It was amazing because no matter what we talked about in class, for some reason, it happened to be completely relevant to my life right then.

 

For example, we discussed how, for a period of time, the Buddha did not indulge in any food he didn’t need to survive. We also talked about the idea of controlling your mind and understanding what troubles you. This was right during wrestling season; I was trying to cut weight and improve my own diet, which was full of junk food, and I was trying to work on being more disciplined generally. So learning about Buddhism at the same time I was trying to change parts of my life really helped me focus on my goals.

 

Overall, NMH has made me more introspective and aware. I’m more mindful now how my actions affect both me and other people. I credit the traditional practices and qualities here at NMH for that. The school is really founded on good ideals. Some of it you learn overtly in classes. Some of it you pick up just being around good people, like gaining confidence because your coach really believes in you. But it’s everyone: the students here are so gifted and the teachers so astonishingly different, with a variety of perspectives and extremely open minds. They push you to think about things differently and to get out in the world and act.

 

One of the actions I took was doing community service in Calcutta. I worked with girls caught up in human trafficking and tutored boys in math and English. But I also just hung out with the kids and played soccer and rugby. Experiences like that really drive home the lessons I’m learning at Northfield Mount Hermon: that everyone and everything in this world is interrelated. We learn from each other and it’s together that we will make the world a nicer place.