Cyrus Veyssi When Cyrus Veyssi started going to Student Life Council (SLC) meetings as a Class IV student, he was nervous to ask questions in front of the upperclassmen. “I was interested in contributing to the feeling of community on campus, even if I was younger than most people on the committee,” he says. By Class I year, Veyssi not only contributed readily to the conversations, he ran the meetings as SLC president. Veyssi also co-led Notorious, a coed a cappella group, played a leading role in the winter musical, The Wall: Reimagined, and worked as a Shield Head—an admissions tour guide. “I genuinely enjoy talking with prospective students…because I know a lot of them are going through experiences similar to the ones I had,” he says. Veyssi’s varied interests and seemingly endless enthusiasm extend into his academics as well. The son of Iranian immigrants, Veyssi
FROM: The Park School (Brookline) TO: Tufts University
Isabella Schumann grew up speaking Farsi, French and English. At Nobles, he added Spanish to the list. In addition to languages, he enjoyed Shannon Clark’s English elective, Contemporary Arabic Literature, and the science elective Chemistry and Cuisine. He points to Marcela Maldonado as being the faculty member who “completely changed the way I see the world,” with her Politics and Ethics and the Modern Middle East classes. “I’ve done my best to set an example for how I think a community should work—as president and as a student in the classroom,” he says.
Isabella Schumann is a young cosmopolitan who loves learning about the world— the languages, cultures, history and art. Schumann challenged herself in several AP classes including AP Art History—one of her favorite classes at Nobles—with Betsy VanOot. “When you’re learning about art history, you’re learning about so many other parts of history that no one really sees,” she says. “You learn about what’s happening at the time and how politics and social issues affect art.” Schumann took the highest level of Spanish and French at Nobles and speaks both languages fluently. Born in Brazil to a German father and a Brazilian mother, she also speaks Portuguese at home and a bit of German. She possesses citizenship in those countries and the United States. When traveling, Schumann’s itinerary often includes visits to art museums. Her favorite is the Musée d’Orsay in France, a former railway station that houses the largest collections of Impressionist paintings in the world.
FROM: The Advent School (Boston) TO: New York University
Schumann worked closely with the Foster Gallery as a member of Team Foster (Class II) and as an assistant curator (Class I). She says that curating has change the way she views museums. “Now I walk into museums and I appreciate so much more how they transform spaces,” she says. In 2012, she enrolled in Harvard’s Secondary School Program for high school students from around the world—studying journalism and international law. “I loved the international law class,” she says. That opportunity inspired her to pursue international relations at New York University in the fall.