The LuHi Experience
LuHi’s vision gives us clear direction: LuHi is a family in Christ, working together to develop compassionate, educated leaders for the future. This year as we’ve unpacked, in various ways, the words in this statement, we have stepped back to reflect and continually evaluate our daily efforts toward that end. This practice has been instructive in countless ways, but for me, it’s sparked other questions.
While our current students show, in very tangible ways, their growth as future leaders on a daily basis as we have ready access to observe them, converse with them, and see them grow, once they walk across the stage at graduation, we no longer have a front-row seat! This spring, I reached out to several graduates, spanning the past five years, and asked them some key questions. What I’ve learned as a result not only connects us to these recent graduates, but also provides some key insights as we seek to pour into those students who continue their LuHi experience in the years to come.
Sophia Luciano ‘22 and Cassandra Nelson ‘22 had just completed their freshman years of college when we connected again. For context, members of the class of 2022 were impacted by Covid through much of high school, as they learned remotely for much of the second semester of their sophomore year, experienced a quasi-hybrid experience during their junior year, and finally returned to some normalcy at the end of their senior year. Sophia is studying Marketing at George Washington University, while also playing Women’s Division 1 Club Ice Hockey. Cassandra is majoring in History at Longwood University, with a concentration in secondary education. I asked each of them how this school prepared them for life after LuHi:
Sophia shared, “I think the biggest thing that LuHi prepared me for was social acclimation. It definitely was not easy adjusting to college life– especially different people, however I remembered all of the friends I made at LuHi and how everyone had such different and interesting backgrounds. It really helped me open up to others because I could relate to so many people so easily.”
According to Cassandra, “The coursework at LuHi gave me an excellent base for my college coursework, with the standards LuHi set I was able to achieve the highest GPA in the history department in my school and excelled in all of my classes. LuHi’s standards for writing helped me immensely with my college writing assignments.”
The class of 2020 walked across the “stage” during our Graduation on the Go year, where faculty and staff fanned out across Long Island and Queens to bring graduation ceremonies to our families. Having just completed his junior year at the University of Michigan, Cameron Nichols (‘20) is back in New York for the summer for an internship focused in the area of Artificial Intelligence. He shared, “LuHi had a profound impact on my readiness for life beyond high school. Despite its smaller size, the school instilled in me the confidence and ease to make friends and connect with anyone, which was incredibly beneficial when I transitioned to a much larger college environment. It’s now second nature for me to strike up a conversation and build a relationship with anyone I share a campus with. Moreover, the unique life lessons I gained from one-on-one interactions with teachers at LuHi have been invaluable in navigating adulthood. They imparted wisdom and guidance that were tailored to my individual needs and experiences, something that I have come to appreciate more as I’ve grown. These personalized lessons have helped me in making decisions, managing my time, and generally ‘adulting’ with a perspective that I feel is unique to a LuHi education.”
Then, I was able to check in with members of the class of 2019 who have now either graduated or are nearing graduation. For these students, much of their college experience was interrupted by COVID. Ashley Eliassaint ‘19 is currently searching for her first post-collegiate job as she just graduated from NYU. Jonathan Wilds ‘19 will graduate from St. John’s University this coming December with a degree in Communication Arts, with plans to continue with a Master’s program in Integrated Advertising Communications thereafter.
Ashley shared, “LuHi definitely prepared me for college in terms of assignment time management. The letter-day cycle helped me organize things by priority, which became important during college, especially when classes had multiple assignments.” Jonathan focused more on co-curricular preparation: “Leadership positions and other opportunities at LuHi have prepared me immensely for life at SJU. Because of Covid, I wasn’t able to get as involved as I wanted to early on, but going into Junior Year, I served as Vice President of one of the biggest organizations on campus – Haraya: The Pan-African Students’ Coalition. Senior Year, I served as President of Haraya, and was part of the Student Government Executive Board as the Press Secretary as well. In my time at SJU, I also worked as a Student Ambassador and Orientation Leader.”
To learn more about their LuHi experience as it has impacted their life beyond 131 Brookville Road, I inquired and asked what was the single best decision you made while you were at LuHi, and why was it so important to your growth and development?
Cassandra shared, “The best decision that I made at LuHi was going on the mission trip to Houston and volunteering for Habitat for Humanity. Having these opportunities allowed me to pad my resume a bit and thus receive more networking opportunities such as being able to join a sorority (due to my previous volunteer work) and receiving leadership positions at my university. These volunteering opportunities also taught me how to be compassionate towards others and allow God to work through me for others.”
When Cameron reflected on this question, he stated, “The single best decision I made while at LuHi was managing the varsity basketball team. This role not only facilitated deeper connections with my classmates, but it also allowed me to recognize the invaluable roles the coaches played. They weren’t just coaches; they served as mentors to all of us involved in the team, whether we were on the court or behind the scenes. The fact that the coaches have continued to reach out and check in on me after high school attests to the profound relationships built during this time.
Ashley shared, “ I don’t regret taking the programming classes and Mr. Kennedy’s engineering class. The projects, fun, and teamwork I experienced in those classes were in my major’s classes to a higher degree. Those classes gave a nice introduction to tech development cycles (product, software, content, etc)!”
Finally, I asked the alumni what advice they could offer current LuHi middle and/or high school students!
Sophia shared, “ I would probably say to join every club/team. I think a huge aspect of LuHi’s energy is its sports, and I definitely could have been better with that! The team culture at LuHi is unbeatable, and I wish I could have been a part of it more.”
Cassandra shared, “My biggest advice for current LuHi students is to go to their teachers when they are having an issue or set back in a class. The biggest advantage that I gave myself in school was that I was open and honest to my teachers and that helped me greatly in succeeding in high school.
Cameron (‘20): When I look back at my time at LuHi, my one wish is that I had stepped out of my comfort zone a bit more by participating in a wider range of clubs, even those that didn’t initially align with my interests. My college experience has taught me the value of exploring unfamiliar areas; sometimes you discover passions and abilities in the most unexpected places. While I cherished my time at LuHi and the activities I engaged in, I now recognize the value of a broader exploration of opportunities, which is something I would encourage current students to embrace.
Jonathan shared, “Some advice I have for current LuHi students is to live in the moment and make the most of your time here. All experiences you’ll have at LuHi will prepare you in some way for your future whether you know it or not. Looking back, the experiences I went through, both good and bad, have definitely prepared me for life post-LuHi.”