Caroline Kukas '19

Sixth-former Caroline Kukas knew she wanted to come to Brooks, she says, when she stepped into a math classroom on her revisit day. "I was with one of the hockey players," Kukas remembers, "and she had math class. I think it was geometry. We were sitting there, and I noticed the connection that this girl had with [former mathematics faculty Ali Mattison]. As I went through the day, I noticed and recognized those little connections that the teachers have with their students here, and that's something that wasn't the same at any other school."

Kukas is now herself a tour guide at Brooks ("I wanted to show other kids what our school has to offer," she says), and she highlights the ways in which teachers bring the classroom to life for their students. "Sometimes I stop my tours right in front of [mathematics faculty Doug] Burbank's room, and we talk about how there's a big white board in his room that covers a whole wall," she says. "Or, I tell my tours about [English faculty John] Haile, who taught me when I was a third-former. Once, he jumped up on top of a chair because he was so excited about something!" She took her first class with English teacher Leigh Perkins '81 this fall, a seminar on literature written by immigrants to the United States, and loved the experience so much that she signed up for a second Perkins class — memoir writing — this spring.

Kukas welcomed that close, unique connection between Brooks teachers and their students, and she found it waiting for her in droves when she matriculated. She speaks fondly of Mattison — the teacher she noticed on revisit day — as well as of former mathematics teacher Stacy Turner. Mattison and Turner coached the 1st field hockey team, for which Kukas played. She learned how to play field hockey after she arrived at Brooks — she says she "never even touched a field hockey stick" prior to her arrival on campus — and she cites Mattison and Turner for helping her through her new sport.

Field hockey was new to Kukas, but ice hockey and softball were not. Kukas arrived on campus intending to play both sports, and she's delivered. In addition to manning the net for the hockey team, Kukas is a switch-hitting shortstop who bats leadoff for the softball team.

One quality defines Kukas through her varied sports and positions. "I'm supportive," she says. "My teammates would probably say that I'm always there for them, no matter what the situation is. They feel comfortable around me." Kukas says that she gets this trait from her mother. Her mother, Kukas says, always puts others before herself.

"I guess that just sort of carried over when I began taking on leadership positions here," she says. "Knowing that people are here for me, but sometimes I need to help them, also. Sometimes, someone's going through something really hard, and you don't really know until you sit down and talk to them."

She credits her success as a goalie, she says, to her ability to focus. "I'm the last line for our team," she says, "and I see everything when I'm on the ice. And when I make a great save, it's the best feeling I can have on the ice — for me, it's even better than when my team scores! The support and encouragement and energy I get from my team keeps me going."

Kukas is headed to Saint Anselm College in the fall of 2019, where she plans on continuing her hockey career. She will take the lessons she learned from Brooks, and from playing hockey at Brooks, with her. "I've learned to support and have empathy for people, because you never really know," she says. "I've learned to not stop working, either at school or hockey. I've learned that there's always someone there for you. Your team's always going to support you."