Pictured above: Rami Wadih, Grant Eaton and Nick Abbott
Elisha Aaron
Elisha was a National Merit Finalist, played on Walnut Hills’ Varsity Tennis Team, and sang in the Senior Ensemble and the Chamber Choir. He attended Walnut Hills High School through 11th grade and took classes at the University of Cincinnati this past year. He will attend McGill University this fall and is planning to major in Art History.
Zoe Cheng
Zoe attended Walnut Hills High School. While there, she was a three-year member of the Chatterbox, their school newspaper. This past year Zoe was editor-in-chief, and the year before was managing editor! Zoe was also president of Film Production Club for three years. She was inducted into the Cum Laude Society and was a National Merit Scholar Finalist. Her interests have always been focused on writing and filmmaking. Notable achievements include a play she wrote, Pillow Talk, that was produced by the Blank Theatre in Hollywood last summer, and her poetry that was published in The Best Teen Writing of 2012 and 2014. Zoe was also a 2014 YoungArts Finalist in Writing, which means she got to spend a week in Miami writing and learning from guest artists and other young artists.
Walnut Hills seemed like a huge place to Zoe, and The New School (with its small community size) definitely let her experience a deeper sense of empathy with students and teachers alike. This allowed her to evaluate the people she met later with a heart for being genuine and kind. This summer Zoe was in Taipei, Taiwan visiting family and this fall will begin studying Writing for Screen & Television at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Zoe will pursue a career as a screenwriter, film director, and international journalist and will also pursue a minor in global communication.
Maya Schwartz
Maya is an equestrian, a figure skater, and has studied violin for 13 years. She’s been in the Cincinnati Junior Strings Chamber Orchestra for two years, the Cincinnati Symphony Youth Orchestra for four years, and has performed twice at Carnegie Hall. Maya attended The School for Creative & Performing Arts and will be attending Bard College in upstate New York where she will major in mathematics.
Nick Abbott
Nick graduated from Walnut Hills with honors and with 43 college credit hours. He will be attending The Ohio State University and will major in mechanical engineering with a minor in computer science. He plans to play soccer for fun (not competitively), and ski in the winter. Nick remembers living a few blocks from The New School, and whenever he drives by is reminded of the great times he had there. He says, “I learned a lot at TNSM, and it set me up really well for going to Walnut. I see my other classmates at the pool or around school; I wish them all the best of luck!”
Grant Eaton
Grant is attending Miami University this fall to study both computer science and interactive media studies. He hopes to study abroad and sees himself working to travel! Last summer, Grant walked from Cincinnati to Columbus by himself (around 110 miles). This summer he spent 3 weeks hiking 190 miles of the John Muir Trail in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains with his TNSM classmate, Rami Wadih. Grant spent time swimming and boating with his family, his brother, Mitch, and Nick Abbott (both TNSM grads) and German exchange student, Tessa Martins.
Grant’s experience at Walnut Hills was a good one; he was a part of the ski club, took a variety of AP classes, had a diverse group of friends, and was active in introducing many WHHS friends to the sport of Parkour – a form of urban gymnastics – which he practiced at Top Flight Gym. In Grant’s free time, he enjoys making digital paintings/manipulating photography, learning computer programming and hanging out with friends.
Grant shared something from his experience at TNSM saying, “The main way The New School Montessori has helped me was in my self-motivation. I have actually discussed this with other New School Alumni in the past; The New School encouraged us to make our own decisions on how to spend our time. After our lessons, we were free to work on other subjects, use the computers, or to walk to another room. These are all responsibilities/ freedoms most kids our age did not have in traditional schools.”
Emily Frank
Emily danced through school, beginning at SCPA for grades 7 through 9 and then transferring to Clark Montessori for 10th through the first quarter of 12th grade – officially graduating from Ohio Connections Academy.
Emily is no longer pursuing a dance career, but plans to attend Cincinnati State Technical and Community College this fall with a focus on nursing. After graduating, Emily will attend the University of Cincinnati to become a registered nurse and to work in a hospital.
Emily said, “The New School Montessori was a great school for me. I liked that we had 16 people in the entire class. We were so close. I loved that our teachers were so close to each and every one of us; at SCPA, you get new teachers every year. My experience at TNSM made me cherish every teacher I’ve had.
Katie Hanley
At Walnut Hills, Katie took AP classes, enjoyed playing on the Varsity Tennis Team for all four years, and was awarded the 4-year Varsity Athlete Award. Katie will major in biology at The University of Cincinnati. While at TNSM, Katie enjoyed the friends she made and the closeness she had with the teachers. She says she took it for granted when she was there but has come to cherish and miss it.
Lando Slack
Lando graduated from Walnut Hills with honors and straight As. He had the opportunity to take some AP classes and to play on the lacrosse team his senior year. He is considering pursuing his interest in aerospace and engineering when he attends the University of Cincinnati this fall.
Rami Wadih
While attending Clark Montessori, Rami played drum set in the jazz band all 4 years, was on the swim team and track team all 4 years, and competed in several years of cross country and soccer. In addition to the Clark High school teams, Rami also swam year round for Seawolves and then for Powell Croslely YMCA.
Rami began competing in triathalons when he was 14 and this summer completed his first 1/2 (780.3) Ironman in Benton Harbor Michigan where you have to be 18 to enter an ironman event; Rami was 18 and 1 month when he competed.
Rami has enjoyed intersession trips to Hawaii and the Dominican Republic and will attend The Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business. He will be participating in the ICE Scholars program (Innovation, Creativity, and Entrepreneurship) and plans to join either the club swimming team or triathalon team.
Elice van Woensel
Elice will attend Kalamazoo College in Michigan. She plans to study English and psychology with the goal of becoming a creative writing therapist. While at Walnut Hills, Elice was a member of the Gleam literary magazine, the sci-fi club and the choir. She has volunteered at Springer School as a summer teacher’s assistant, offering extra practice with math and reading. In addition, Elice helped at Valley Inter-faith with their back-to-school program that helps provide children with the uniforms, backpacks and school supplies they’ll need for the fall.
Elice felt good about her education at TNSM saying, “The critical thinking skills I learned at The New School have been useful in life – not just in school. I learned how to learn and could focus on how to apply knowledge – not just memorize it. I also appreciated that we were given the flexibility to work in the way we learned and worked best. That doesn’t happen at other schools.”