Testimonial from a former NHA Student

My time at NHA began at fourth grade and ended at eighth grade. It was a little bit difficult at first because I didn’t know anybody as I had just moved from California. Fortunately, everyone was really nice to me and tried to make me feel comfortable and I gradually made friends and came to know the teachers and staff very well. During my time at NHA, I was involved in cross country, basketball, volleyball, and drama. Through these various activities, I got to meet many people and make new friends.

My favorite classes were always English and History. My favorite teacher was my eighth grade English teacher because she was kind and she always made class interesting and very interactive. The environment at NHA was very comfortable and friendly with student artwork hanging on the walls, large recess areas, a quiet library, and tidy classrooms. The other students were nice, as morals were very important and students were even awarded on displaying outstanding morals in class. Every month, an entire grade would get together to present a skit or a song on a particular moral to the rest of the school. This focus on morals helped create a more open and friendly school environment.

NHA prepared me for high school in many ways. Academically, the teachers were always willing to help and answer questions whenever anybody needed help and I think the small class size was an advantage as we were able to get more attention. There were also opportunities to skip ahead in certain classes so that students who were too advanced for a particular class could learn. My teachers had high expectations of me. Discipline was important and that prepared me for the higher expectations and increased independence in high school. Tardies, late homework assignments and bad behavior were not tolerated. There were times when I was at NHA that I complained that we had too much homework to do (of course!), but after two years of high school, I now understand that it only helped prepare me for the level of homework I have to do now.

By putting emphasis on teaching morals such as respect, caring, trustworthiness, and responsibility, NHA also prepared me socially for high school and even for life, because it really taught me how to treat others and how to get along with others. I think this helped me make friends in high school. I was nervous about starting high school because I only knew one other student at the entire school and I was worried I might not fit in or the other students would be smarter than me.

It did take me some time to find my way and make a group of friends, but I tried to get involved in activities like French Club, the volunteer board, drama and the crew team as a way to meet people and that really helped. I was also happy to realize that I was pretty much at the same level academically as my classmates and even tested into AP U.S. History and Honors English. And my parents have been happy to see that my grades in high school are even better than they were at NHA.

I just finished my sophomore year of high school and I’ve really had a great experience so far. In some ways, it seems like my time at NHA was so long ago, but my little sister still goes there and it’s nice to go back there for her school events and see my old teachers and remember the five years I spent there because it really was a great part of my life.