Samhita Vasudevan

Dear NAI,

Mr. Hull asked me to write this letter to you, my delay in doing so spawns only from the lack of vocabulary I possess to describe all that you have done for me. Although waking up every morning has dredged up a severe intolerance for the sound of my alarm, my interactions with this school have (mostly) been positive.

Pre-freshman-year-Samhita had an idealist’s view of high school: easy classes and good times. The one thing I was really worried about was if my friend group would become dissolved in the sea of 700 other freshmen, my new peers. Somehow, thanks to our counselors’ wonderful scheduling, I was able to have at least one friend in each of my classes and I was smoothly sailing. The only struggle we all really had was sprinting to lunch every day so that one of us could reserve a table for all of us (@8th period lunch >:(  ).

Sophomore year, was, if possible, even better than freshman year. Although I didn’t have many friends in all my classes, I had gotten the lay of the land and I was comfortable navigating the waters of NAI. Every single day had a new memory: my camera roll can attest to that.

But that’s just a summary of my time here. Let’s get to the ~substance~.

My ride here at NAI is finally pulling into the station (bear with me on this metaphor), and all I can say are there have been many ups and downs. There have been meltdowns, locker jams, times where I don’t do any of my homework (what I like to call self-care), bad tests, bad days, all that good ish. Funnily enough, I can’t seem to recall any of the details on those sorts of things.

The things that I do remember however, are the times where I laughed so hard I choked on my water, the late nights coming home soaked to the bone from a soccer game (but we still won!), hiding presents in my friends’ lockers on their birthdays, taking “mental health days” in English, eating lunch in Mr. Anticole’s room when people took our booth, taking naps in Journalism (after we did our work, don’t worry), things like that.

Memories like those are ones that will remain ingrained in my mind. I know there will be more locker jams and assorted misfortunes to come, but NAI has taught me that there will also be more good stuff. More tears from laughter, not sadness. More sitting-in-the-halls-pretending-to-work-on-a-project-but-really-just-eating-lunch because the cafeteria was just not our vibe that day. More pickleball championships (doubles 😉 ), more NA games, more of everything that I was gifted by this school in the past two years.

As the sun sets on my time here, I think about everything I have ever learned within these walls. I’ve memorized quite a few equations, learned some vocabulary words, wrote more than a handful of essays, read some Shakespeare, did some experiments. But I think that all that amounts to more than just book knowledge. It amounts to shared experiences and triumphs, moments of victory we all share together.

NAI has taught me that learning goes a whole lot deeper than a textbook– it carves the way for our characters.

Okay, I’m done being dramatic now.

Love,

Samhita Vasudevan