“Being a freshman and trying to imagine myself four years from then, I just never could really picture myself graduating. Of course, I knew I would, but it always felt so far away. And now that I’m here, it’s like, whoa. My friends—JT, Alex, Colton—they all left, and I remember thinking, “What am I gonna do?” But it’s also a moment for new opportunities. It’s nice to still keep in touch with everyone. I mean, last year was interesting. It was fun, of course, because I was roomed with Alex again—same room, same floor. But I’ve been friends with those guys for, like, three-plus years. This year is different because, of course, they’re gone. There’s a lot more responsibility now, with me going to college and all that kind of scary stuff.

“Also, William’  Will’ Wong ’27 in my hall—he’s a fun time. It’s nice being able to connect with younger students, too. It’s a really good feeling knowing that you have an influence on younger students, especially because when I was a freshman, I always looked up to the older students.
I feel like freshman year, you’re always a lot more awkward and kind of scared of the older kids. But especially now that we’ve been here for four years, it’s a lot easier to talk to people because you’ve been around the block, I guess.

“One of the things that stood out to me was my first day here. Multiple people knocked on my door to say hi and introduce themselves. Something like that felt very different.

“I transferred in after everyone had already been off for a month because of FISU games, so I think that transition helped a little bit. Everyone was already adjusting. This whole photography thing has helped, too, because I got to connect with a bunch of teams. I went around with the soccer team a few times, so I got a lot closer to people.

“Having to switch over to a different co-curricular activity taught me maturity to an extent. Of course, I’m still immature because we’re all kids. But going away from home—I lived in Pittsburgh for a year, then Boston, then went through the whole hip surgery thing—it changes you.

“Coming to the middle of nowhere, Lake Placid, was weird at first. I mean, it’s cool, because with the Olympic facilities and everything, getting to practice and all that, but I just felt so far off from seeing myself graduate. And now I’m here, which is scary.

“The social dynamics have changed, too. In my first year, the friend groups were very distinct. Of course, people still hang out with their teams, especially during meals and stuff like that, but now it feels a lot more open. People go down the hall and say hi to one another. No one’s really ostracized, and everyone seems a lot closer between teams.

“One big thing I try to do is help people whenever I can—cleaning up, pushing chairs in, even when no one’s looking. Just making sure you help whenever you can. And making sure you pass down a good legacy, I guess.

“Northwood is a completely different place. It’s more like a family. I lived in Seattle until sixth grade, then went to Pittsburgh for a year, which was this huge public school with, like, a thousand kids. Then, Boston, because of hip surgery. I’ve had all these completely different experiences across the country, 2,000 miles away from my parents. I think it conditioned me to be independent to an extent.

“Our house is basically a wildlife sanctuary now. We’re, like, two miles away from the city, but somehow we have so much wildlife in our tiny backyard. One raccoon started coming around, and we named it Peanut because it ate a ridiculous amount of peanuts. Then, like, a week later, it brought its babies with it. You’d look outside and see them all walking along the fence, one by one.

“We put out a bowl of water for them because raccoons always wash their food. One time, they flipped the bowl, and all ran away because they scared themselves. Now they come back all the time. The babies are grown-up-ish now, but you can still tell they’re young. We also have a hawk that comes by because of how many birds we have around. I genuinely don’t know how we manage to have this many animals.

“Other than that, over the summer I like taking photos of planes, hanging out with friends, and going on hikes. I’ve always wanted to take photos of stuff, but cameras are expensive. Around November last year, I got my first real camera. Since then, I’ve probably taken hundreds of thousands of photos. I’ve taken photos for most of the teams here.

“Closing out, I’d say take as much advantage of all the opportunities you get. I never thought I’d be published in that compilation [Wild Words Anthology] four times. There was also the PBS film thing, which was really cool. I basically did that last minute after pulling an all-nighter with Alex.

“It’s funny because once you’re older, you can kind of laugh about all the stressful stuff younger students are going through because you know what it’s like—you’ve been there. You get bonded through that shared experience.

“Stay close to your teachers. That’s important because they’re there to help you. If you help them and treat them well, they’re more willing to help you. They want you to succeed. Just don’t be a butt head. Don’t miss the hub bus.”

As told to Sasha Luhur ’27. Photo by Mr. Michael Aldridge.

“One of my favorite years at Northwood was my first year at Northwood, 2022-23, since we had almost a month and a half off from school in the middle of the year for FISU Games. Also, we didn’t have school on Fridays that year, which is really nice.

“Over my four years at Northwood, I’m super proud of the program that we’ve built here. I was the only ski jumper in my first year here. In my second year, we got one more, Mitchell Penning ’25, from Canada. And the next year, we expanded to Mitchell, Henry, Eli, Max, and me. This year, we added Islay, Duncan, and Cadel. So, from one to seven.

“Some highlights of my time at Northwood ski jumping are probably last year, winning Junior nationals for ski jumping, and getting second for Nordic Combined. That’s one of the main reasons I decided to defer my enrollment at Bates College and come back for a PG year.

“I was a Nordic Combiner, which combines cross country skiing and ski jumping for most of my career, and then after winning nationals for ski jumping last year, I decided to focus all my efforts on ski jumping and see how far I could take it. I came back to qualify for the Junior World ski championships this year, and I almost did. On another day, maybe I would have been on that team. But that’s part of the sport. Anyone can have a good day, and anyone can have a bad day. I worked hard, making up a lot of ground and getting myself to the level I needed to be at. On another day, it could have been me, and that’s what I am going to take away from this and be proud of. Now it’s back to work.

“As of now, I intend to move to Lillehammer, Norway, next year with Henry Loher ’26 as well as a few other US athletes to train and compete there. The US team is based there, and it also cuts down on travel, since most of our competitions are in Europe.

“I’m going to miss the people. Although most of my friends graduated last year, Northwood still feels like home. I’ll often catch myself saying I’m going home when I’m talking about Northwood. It goes to show that if you spend enough time with people, they become like family.

“Shout out Ben LeBlanc, great teacher. In junior year, I was probably two units behind for most of the year after extensive back-to-back travel, and he helped me catch up. Also, he drives us every day to ski jumping practice.

“Also, Marge. Marge used to be a Nordic coach, so we talk a lot and spend a lot of time together. She is super nice, and I’m going to miss talking to her every day.”

As told to Sasha Luhur ’27. Photo by Mr. Michael Aldridge.

“I don’t have a favorite color because I feel like all the colors would be sad if I picked one.

“I’m a homebody. I like to stay at home a lot—but I do want to travel. Even though I like to hang out with my friends and family, I also like to have alone time, where I can just be with myself. I like to listen to music. I love to read, maybe watch TV. I’m a cat person, not a dog person, but I still love dogs. I’ve had a lot of pets, but now I only have one dog left….This is sad.

“We used to have two cats, another dog, and a rabbit. We also had a turtle. My parents said he ran away.

“Now I’m just left with the craziest dog in existence, who we thought was normal when we got him, and is not. How is he not normal? He’s afraid of other dogs. But instead of running away, he decides to go crazy, barking and screaming. This made our walks very interesting. And, when he doesn’t get a haircut for a minute, he starts to look like a pom pom—a really dirty pom pom.

“I live in the area, but I started at Northwood my junior year of high school because I was a competitive figure skater up to that point, and I mainly trained down in Jersey. I ended up leaving competitive figure skating and started training down in Boston. I moved clubs and moved coaching teams, and I started training up here and doing FaceTime with my coach. I wanted to return to in-person school for my junior year, especially leading up to college, and I tried to form genuine connections and friendships with people outside my sport.

“From my time at Northwood, last year really stuck with me, especially the trip to Japan. That was insane. I got closer with a lot of people that winter, through skiing and that LEAP trip to Japan. I felt like I formed connections with people on a way deeper level than I would have normally, especially since we were practically living together and seeing each other all the time on that trip. Up to that point, I had felt that gap because I wasn’t a boarder, but now I see myself getting closer with and getting to know people even more than I thought I ever would. My highlight of Northwood is the friendships I made. And I still keep in touch with everyone who graduated or transferred schools, and I see them whenever I can.

“Something a lot of people don’t know about me is that I have a two-year-old sister who I love so, so much. I love to talk about her when she’s brought up. I’m also Bulgarian—both my parents are from Bulgaria, and most of my family is still there.

“I also love traveling. I’ve been to numerous countries, but among them, Italy and Japan are my favorites. I really want to go to Egypt, and I also want to go to China, which I’m planning to do this summer. I really want to go to Egypt to see the new museum they opened. It’s so cool. I also really want to ride a camel and snowboard down the dunes. I also really want to try surfing. That was on my 2025 bucket list, but it didn’t happen, so I’m hoping it happens in 2026.

“I’ve always been into RnB, so that’s mainly the type of music I’ve listened to. I went through a classical music phase where I would bring around a boombox to the rink and blast classical music in other people’s faces, telling them how fire it was. They would tell me that I’m crazy.

“Also, I don’t understand sarcasm. So whenever anyone’s sarcastic, I fully believe them, and it’s very embarrassing, because I’ll be gaslit, and I would never know. So don’t take advantage of me. That’s the end of that.”

As told to Sasha Luhur ’27. Photo by Mr. Michael Aldridge.

“I was born in New York City, in the Bronx. We were living there at the time because our apartment in Manhattan was being renovated. We moved back to our apartment in Manhattan when I was a few months old, and I lived there until I was about three. I went to different preschools in the city. For a little bit, I lived with my grandparents in Massachusetts, probably for a few months, and then moved back with my parents. Then we moved to Mexico.

“In Mexico, we lived in three different houses—one in Mexico City and two in Tepoztlán Del Monte. I went to three different schools there, not because of the moves, but that’s just how it worked out. I finished kindergarten in Mexico, then moved to Massachusetts. I have a December birthday, and they had me repeat kindergarten. In Massachusetts, I lived there from age six to nine. I went to Hastings Elementary for kindergarten, first, and half of second grade, and then to Touchstone for the rest of second and third grade.

“From there, I moved back to New York City, to the same apartment in Manhattan, for grades four through halfway into six. In those three years, I went to three more schools: first the United Nations International School, then I switched to a public school around the block in East Harlem, and then to another one after that. The last one, Manhattan East, has been my favorite school I’ve ever been to.

“Halfway through sixth grade, COVID happened. We’d been looking for houses upstate for about a year; we probably looked at over a hundred. My dad’s coworker lived here and invited us to a Mountain Bike Festival. We came, looked at three houses, and my parents fell in love with the first one. They bought it while I was still in sixth grade. We planned to move at the end of the school year, but my dad, who was following the news, foresaw the shutdowns, so we moved mid-year.

“It was hard to enroll me in school here because of COVID, since no one wanted to take students from the city. So, I ended up doing half of sixth grade and all of seventh grade virtually through New York City, even though I was living six hours away from my friends. One of the best weeks of my life was at the end of seventh grade when I went back to New York City for in-person school and finally saw my friends again. I think I peaked in seventh grade.

“Eighth grade, I finally went to Lake Placid Middle School. After that, I switched to Northwood. Before Northwood, the longest I’d ever been at one school was two and a half years. Now, I’ve been here for four years. It’s also the longest I’ve ever lived in one place, which feels weird. I can feel this urge to move far away again—that’s why I’m planning to go to Norway next year.

“It’s tricky because most people here come for sports. The first thing anyone asks you is, ‘What sport do you play?’ or ‘Why are you here?’ And honestly, I used to think—’Why am I here? Because there was nowhere else for me to go.’ Would I have chosen this school if I were living somewhere else? No. There’d be no reason. That’s helped me actually find a place. I think I’ve built enough respect that I don’t have to worry about belonging anymore. It’s unfortunate that I had to earn respect, but that’s kind of what happens when you don’t have a team to back you up.

“My freshman year, Northwood Dance was a thing. When I came here, I didn’t know what a co-curricular was. At orientation, they had tables lined up, and when I got to the co-curricular table, they asked, ‘What are you going to do?’ and I was like, ‘Do something?’ I’d never been to a school where you had to pick something to be. So I looked at the list and just said, ‘Okay, I guess I’ll do dance,’ because there was nothing else I wanted. I had never danced before. I joined Northwood Dance not out of passion, just because I had to. One ballet class a week, and at the time, it meant nothing to me.

“That summer, my mom signed me up for a one-week intensive at Alvin Ailey in New York City, so I’d be occupied since I refused to get a job. We danced eight hours a day—it was amazing. My body had never felt so good. We’d take two classes in the morning—ballet, hip-hop, whatever—then lunch, then two choreography classes in the afternoon. It gave me a taste of what it was like to be a professional dancer: taking the train, reading a book, living that rhythm. I met dancers from everywhere. We’d eat McDonald’s for lunch—very proper dancers.

“After that, I started taking drop-in classes in NYC at Gibney Studios, which shares a building with the American Ballet Theatre. It’s so cool because now I see reels online and think, ‘I’ve been in that studio.’ Alvin Ailey had live drummers for African dance—such an incredible experience. I also tried drop-in ballet classes at Gibney. I was terrible and heartbroken because everyone else made it look effortless. But I had never seen something so beautiful. I called my mom after class, sobbing, saying, ‘This is what I want to do for the rest of my life.’

“Sophomore year, I switched from the now-defunct Northwood Dance to LPCA. I met my ballet teacher and danced 2–3.5 hours a day. I was ready to live and breathe ballet—I definitely danced over 100 hours that year—but eventually, the joy disappeared. The mirrors felt harsh, the lights unbearable. I started skipping class, then stopped altogether.

“Junior year, I went all out with NOC. I returned to the Dance Sanctuary, did contemporary in the first semester, then ballet. That’s what I’m still doing. This year, I also joined the freestyle ski team, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it takes me.

“Last year, I managed to build my own little group of people—from all over, from all different teams. It was comforting to see that it could be the case, because I’d never seen that before.”

“My favorite artist? Gracie Hurlbut ‘25 has really gotten me into Noah Kahan, and I also like Zach Bryan.”

“My dad was a women’s college hockey coach, so from when I was really young, I always played and loved the game. When I was like, a mite-level player, we had a team and my mom was the coach. We didn’t have a goalie, and she said, ‘no one wants to do it. You have to do it,’ and I just loved it, and I’ve run with it ever since. I’m really glad to have the opportunity to play at a place like Northwood, and I’m really happy to have the opportunity to play at the next level after this.

“I’m going to Quinnipiac University next year, and I’ll be playing on their Division One women’s ice hockey team. It’s really exciting. They have great coaches, and I just love the school and the program, so I’m really looking forward to it.

“Hockey-wise, my favorite moment from Northwood so far was when we won the J-dub tournament out in Virginia; that was awesome. But my favorite moment at school was Winter Carnival—that was really cool. It was so fun to see everyone get involved and really competitive. I think I spent five hours on the puzzle.

“I’m from Whitesboro, New York. It’s about three hours away from here, just outside Utica. I live with both my parents and my two brothers. One of them is older than me, and he goes to college at Clarkson. The other one’s a year younger; he’s a high school junior. We have a dog. Our family is tight-knit, making it sad to move away from home. But they’re always supportive of me, and I’m so lucky that they have always supported me and encouraged me to go after my dreams.”

“I was a little homesick at the start. It’s different not being with your family every day, but it’s really forced me to grow and become more independent. It’s prepared me for college and being on my own next year. I think that, as a person, I’ve matured a lot. I’ve had to learn lessons I wouldn’t have learned at home with my parents, and I’m much more independent. At college next year, I’ll be much more ready to tackle that new community and sports environment with what I gained this year. I feel like Northwood has given me such an advantage compared to other kids. When I get to college next year, athletically, academically, I feel like I’m just a step ahead of everyone else now.”

As told to Sasha Luhur ’27. Photo by Mr. Michael Aldridge.