NETTIE PHILIPS

Senior Spotlight

The face behind Dance Marathon’s social media, it’s no surprise that Nettie Philips radiates energy and enthusiasm wherever she goes.

A 14-year Skyhawk, Nettie’s time in the upper school has centered on the fundraising event, serving as promotions chair for the 2022 event that raised over $62,000, and as overall chair for this year’s smaller event alongside Raymond Cao and Adela Mikell. Dance Marathon has been an important leadership opportunity for Nettie: she says that it helped her “show more things I was capable of,” like running the Instagram and planning fundraising events that preceded the event itself Naturally, she cites “raising so much money for Dance Marathon” as one of her proudest Hammond achievements

Community service is very important to Nettie: while Dance Marathon has been her biggest service endeavor, she was also a volunteer counselor during Camp Cole’s inaugural summer in 2022 She worked weeklong programs for Cole’s Kids, a community service-oriented program for children, and for Camp Impact, a program for low-income children in the Columbia area.

Outside her service activities, Nettie was on the competition cheer team for two years and the spirit cheer team for all four years of high school She has also excelled in the classroom, with her achievements recognized by her three-year membership in the National Honor Society and spring induction into the Cum Laude Society. She takes particular pride in the competition cheer team’s state championship her freshman year, only one year after a severe injury

Nettie cites “the classic course load issues” as her greatest challenge at Hammond She says the adjustment from middle to upper school was difficult for her, as well as the adjustment into junior year, “taking APs and realizing, wow, Mrs Jackson’s class is really hard.” These difficulties did not ultimately hinder Nettie’s academic success: she says confidently that “obviously, I was able to overcome those challenges ”