Trying something new can be intimidating. It can also be really exciting when you feel supported. Just this week, current students shared with admitted students their stories of taking a chance with Brooks behind them.

“This is my first year ever taking Chinese. It was a big leap for me,” Noah Humphrey ’27 said during an admission panel talk for families visiting campus.

“I came in as strictly an athlete, super not into art at all,” added Lydia Tangney ’25, captain of the girls 1st basketball and lacrosse teams. “But I’m leaving here as a 2-D visual artist and also very passionate about the theater program.”

The girls 1st squash team wins the medal, though (literally). Six of the eight athletes who won in their NEPSAC Class D Championship — and took second place in the Division 5 High School National Championship — were only introduced to the sport at Brooks.

“I started squash my first year at Brooks never having played and began to love the sport,” said Ella Whelan ’25 (above front right). She initially split her winter afternoon activity program between squash and the musical, Rent, before deciding to focus on squash her second year.

“Most of the team had never played squash before Brooks, but that meant we were all learning and growing together, which made the experience more enjoyable,” she said. “It’s incredible to think that this same team made it to the finals for Nationals and ended up winning New England!”

At Nationals on February 23 at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia, the team decidedly beat Seven Hills School and Greenwich Country Day School before falling short 3-4 against Concord Academy in the finals. Tables were turned on March 2 at NEPSACs, when they beat Concord Academy 4-3 during the tournament’s first round before besting Miss Porters School and Pomfret School with a 5-2 victory in the final.

“I’ve loved all of the teams I have been on for squash but my varsity team is special to me, in particular, because of the way I was supported and pushed as a player,” said Whelan.

During the school’s winter awards ceremony on April 4, Head Coach Kihak Nam admitted that the team’s regular season was “really tough,” because they only won two matches. “So, I’m really proud of our girls because instead of focusing on wins and losses they were really working on how to improve their skills and get better after each match,” he said. “Towards the end of the season, they did a tremendous job coming in second place in the Nationals and winning New Englands. That’s a testament to their hard work throughout the entire season.”

When Nam presented Whelan with this year's most improved award, he recalled her journey from the instructional 3rds team to the top of her game, noting that at first, she was such a newbie she had to learn to hold the grip properly because was used to a tennis grip. “She's a very quiet player but very resilient and stubborn, in her own way, to perfect her craft,” he said.

Whelan’s perseverance paid off. “I must say that I was very proud of her at Nationals,” Nam continued. “In the final round, she was down 2-1, but she came back to win 3-2.”

When you ask her, however, she credits the team’s support system. “I am so proud of all the hard work everyone put in, and we couldn't have done it without the team chemistry had,” she said. “Coach Nam always knows how to give us the support and advice we need to persevere through the toughest matches. In the end, everyone left the season a better squash player and having had fun.”