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Ava '26

Ava '26

ava ' 26 profile image

Hometown: Medford, MA

Groton activities: varsity basketball, Conservation Corps, Groton Community Engagement, Student Activities Committee, Diversity & Inclusion, Communications prefect, Dining Hall prefect, peer counselor

Most surprising when you first arrived at Groton: In my first few months as a Third Former (freshman) on the Circle, I found how quickly my form bonded in the dorm's outer common rooms most surprising. Our preferred common room, decorated with a TV and a ping-pong table, helped foster a community.

Favorite class: My Fifth Form English class with Mrs. Gracey. She is a wonderful teacher who created a comfortable learning environment rich with class discussion. Reading Toni Morrison, Shakespeare, Margaret Atwood, and Nathaniel Hawthorne only made me love the class more.

Most memorable Groton moment: The Prize Day of my Third Form year earns that title. Saying goodbye to seniors for the first time is not something one can prepare for.

Favorite Dining Hall food:  Tomato soup
 
Favorite place to study: The student center during off-hours

 

A vibrant sunset sky with warm hues of orange and pink, framed by silhouetted trees in the foreground, and a building with a distinctive tower visible in the distance.
Sunset and Smiles

One fall evening, when the trees still held their leaves and the sun hadn’t completely set, my friends and I paused to chat outside.

The image shows a person holding up a large open book, with a woman sitting in a chair in the background, in what appears to be a study or library setting.
Tangible History

I took an elective called Religious Art, Music, and Architecture this fall. One class, when we weren’t immersed in Islamic calligraphy or the Heart Sutra, we gathered around a page from one of the Western world’s most valued artifacts: the Gutenberg Bible.

The ocean with blue skies and boats in the distance
Visiting Family

Apart from holidays, when is there a better time to visit family than in the summer?

The girls basketball team hold up a sign that says "Ava's 1000th point"
1000 Points

Let me set the scene for you. Picture Groton girls basketball playing at home against Middlesex.

Students crouch over a fire pit, roasting marshmellows
An Unconventional Check-in

On a cold Thursday night, my fellow dorm members started filing into Hamlin’s common room for check-in.

Three loaves of banana bread, sliced
Faux Winter Bread

Winter Bread: different daily breads served throughout the winter term at lunchtime by the Dining Hall. It is one of the most anticipated parts of winter lunches, and I’d argue, of winter term itself.

A staircase leading upstairs at a bookstore, with posters on the wall
A Surprise Outing

Let’s start right after chapel. Picture almost every Groton student clustered in front of the Schoolhouse. There had already been talk of Surprise Holiday, so these rumors strengthened during the crowded gathering. 

Many rooftops with mountains and blue skies in the background
Adventures on the Peru GEO

Only twenty-four hours into summer break, I was back at Groton. Everybody on the Peru GEO—GEO an acronym for Global Education Opportunity—was saying their goodbyes to family and loading their luggage onto the bus bound for Boston Logan International Airport.

Antique books on a bookshelf
Fun Events in the Boston Area

“Let’s do something fun today.” If anyone were to have walked into the room after my friend uttered that sentence, they would have encountered two teens hunched over their phones. We were scouring the internet for “fun events in the Boston area.”