I plan to concentrate in international relations and French.

Definitely. There’s a real emphasis on being a global citizen here. I participated in the exchange program with our sister school in France. My family hosted a girl named Annalise earlier this year, and I’ll be staying with her this summer in Cannes. She’s been giving me books to read, movies to watch, and songs to listen to to help improve my French. She’s been a great teacher and friend.

My time on all the fields and in the gyms. Every single day after school for the past 4 years I’ve been with a team at a practice or a game. It’s been a huge part of the experience at Thayer and who I am today. I feel like I was formed at Thayer through my sports teams. Athletics helped me become a better leader and captain, and helped me form friendships across all the grades.

The vibe of the community. I looked at other secondary schools, and I felt like people weren’t as supportive, happy or as nice. The atmosphere comes from the teachers, administrators, students, every level of the community. It’s not a pressure cooker at all. When I was out sick people would send me entire pages of notes and test preparation without me even asking. People here have perspective, which is really important for me to be around since I'm a bit of a perfectionist.

Honors Chemistry, my junior year. Even if I studied the ins and outs of every problem and every process, the problems on the test would be not what I had studied. They would be something similar so I’d have to apply what I already knew to something I had never seen before.

AP US History. My 10-page research paper about the Japanese Internment Camps was the best paper I’ve ever written. My writing really came together, I was forced to hone my analytic writing skills and balance the big picture with smaller details. It was my hardest but most enjoyable class at Thayer. I really liked the material and Mr. Donnelly made it come alive.

Mr. Thayer. It’s so funny to see your friends up there. It’s a fun way for the community to come together. [Note: Mr. Thayer is an annual event in which senior boys participate in a talent competition to earn the title Mr. Thayer.]