Portraits of Young Friends: Miles Nabritt ’17
Student Senate President Miles Nabritt ’17 is used to being in the spotlight and he doesn’t mind telling you he’ll miss it. “Senior year is enjoyable because it’s the final year and I’ve been going been going here for seven years,” he said. “Quite recently I’ve been going through all the memories of my time here.”
He will particularly miss student government and leading the Upper School Senate. “That’s been such a huge honor,” he said, “getting to interact with the administration, faculty and the students, hearing about their ideals. It’s a challenge and a motivation to look at the Upper School as a whole and pick the issues that we care about most dearly…The senate and I have done really well, and,” he hinted about the upcoming senior class gift, “we’re hoping we’ll be able to do something really special for the school.”
Senior year has caused a shift in how he relates to his teachers. He finds himself speaking with them more as an adult on equal footing than as a student. “I feel like I’ve connected to people in so many ways that I’ve never really connected before. I’m now giving other people advice, friends and teachers that I’ve grown up with.”
Not that it’s all been a party. “You have college applications, the stress of leaving here, and you’re going into the new world and you’re growing into an adult. It’s stressful but it’s exciting. Everything is the final moment. The final cross-country meet, the final baseball game, the final Model UN practice, or the final days of classes.”
Academically, he’ll miss the History classes most of all. He credits this subject more than any other with shaping his passions for leadership and community involvement. “It’s been for me over the past seven years a class where I’ve really transformed,” he said. “It’s inspired me to do my public speaking a lot, particularly analyzing such a wide array of sources. Looking at different times in history has made me reflect a lot about where I am in society and how our modern society has transformed into a diverse, dynamic cultural entity. My history teachers have forced me, inspired me, to look at things through a cultural and social lens. “I appreciate that I learned so much over years from having teachers like Jon DeGraff, Vladimir Malukoff, Ed Herzman, Jesse Klausz. Also, I’m very thankful that this year I was able to have Erika Hillstead as a new teacher in the BFS community.”
Studying history inspired him to join, and excel in, Model UN, and to try his hand at speaking before large audiences of strangers. “A lot of historical figures or their writings are very persuasive,” he explained, “and in public speaking you have to be persuasive and elegant in your speech, be good at communicating with other people. You have to remember that we’re all connected one way or another in terms of language, culture, art, family.”
Outside of school he works with Best Delegate, a Model UN training organization, with which he has been involved since sophomore year. “On a biweekly basis I talk to people all around the world and we write articles and talk about Model UN, and politics in general.” Participants are high school through college age. “It’s helped me interact with people outside of school,” he said. “I’ve made so many friends and it’s a really welcoming place.”
The group has also afforded him travel opportunities to Boston, Philadelphia, and closer to home, to an event at Columbia University. While there, “a friend said, ‘Miles, you need to travel.’ I had never been out of the US before, and so I took that advice and went to Cuba.” He is also going to London this summer for a celebration with the rest of the senior class.
“Because it’s my senior year I’ve thought a lot of about what has inspired me and about who I want to become in the next couple of years. A quote that inspires me is from George Bernard Shaw who said, ‘Life isn’t about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.’ This symbolizes my most determined goals that I want to achieve as I leave BFS.”
Miles has been accepted to Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. He’ll tell you in no uncertain terms that he plans to major in political science and international studies, and–why not?–become a sports star. “Hopefully I’ll become a pro athlete or work in diplomacy or international affairs,” he said, “hopefully in the UN or possibly in some non-governmental position. Maybe in the State Department or run for senator, who knows?”
He’s planning big but not abandoning his ideals. “I want to do something for the community, or American politics, on a grand scale.”