When I came to visit NMH for the first time, I watched a couple of soccer games. I noticed that the fans here were really polite and nice, not like the crazy fans I was used to. After one of the games, I went out on the field and started kicking a ball around, and a couple of players from the NMH team joined me. I don’t think kids from any other school would have done that. I realized this would be a place where I would be socially accepted, no matter who I was. That’s really important to me because I’ve always been a little bit different. 

Now that I’m a student here, I feel like I don’t have to worry about being different. We’ve got so many different kinds of kids—no matter who you are, you’re accepted. You don’t need to worry. Just be who you are.

Soccer is what I’ve done ever since I was 4. I play on the NMH varsity soccer team, and during the season, my days are jam-packed. I go to classes, then straight down to the field. I start practicing early, have team practice, lift, eat dinner, and do my homework. I definitely need some space to breathe sometimes. NMH gives you the opportunity to have a crazy schedule and do everything you could possibly want to do. It’s also a place that gives you the opportunity to find that space to breathe.

Last semester, I took geometry, physics, and Spanish. I loved my physics class. My teacher was Tabitha Lotze, who used to be a nuclear physicist for the Navy. Pretty impressive. I’m also looking forward to my biology class next year. I don’t like to think of myself as a science nerd, but I probably am.

I took Humanities 1 with Meg Donnelly and Ted DesMaisons, who are awesome teachers. Ted has opened up my worldview, like, times 20. The books we’ve read in his religious studies class are mind-blowing. Like Ishmael, which categorizes civilized, modernized people as takers and less civilized, cave-like people as leavers. We read a book called She’s Not There about a woman who was trapped in a man’s body. That was just something I’d never really thought about before. Because of this class, I’ve started asking questions like: Do I want to be religious? Do I want to take it seriously? I’m still figuring it out.