Second semester senior year is notorious for being the easiest and most fun time of high school. However, senior Carmen Aguirre will not be joining her classmates for the end of high school and will be graduating from the National Sports Academy.

The choice to leave BSM in the middle of senior year was one that took a lot of thought. “I have known about this offer since the weekend after Thanksgiving, but I did not make my decision until Wednesday before I went on winter break,” said Aguirre.

Aguirre chose to make the switch in order to play hockey with the NSA team and to become more recognized by colleges. “I am leaving to pursue my dream of playing Division I hockey,” said Aguirre. She has played with the team since November and with the switch hopes to improve her hockey skills and obtain possible scholarships offers.

The National Sports Academy is in Lake Placid, New York, and Aguirre will be living on campus in a dorm room. The NSA is not a college, although it strongly depicts what college life will be like. “The school is basically like a college, the [average size of classes] are six to eight [students] so there is a lot of student-teacher interaction,” said Aguirre.

Even though Aguirre is mainly going for hockey, NSA is also a rigorous academic school. At NSA, the academic classes take place at night while sports practices take place in the morning. “You start in the morning at eight with practice; then at ten you work out. After workout you go to lunch and then classes from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The school gives every student a free hour and a study hall to help them finish their homework and they have Fridays off of school as well as two weeks of spring break,” said Aguirre.

Aguirre is excited about embarking on her new adventure, but insists that she will still miss BSM. “I will be sad for a number of reasons but I am very excited to go at the same time. I will be sad I am leaving all the wonderful teachers I have had in my past four years, they have made my experience such a positive one and have furthered me to deepen my learning. I will also miss my friends and classmates. [They] are all very supportive and good people I am sad I am not able to walk with [them] at graduation after three really great years, but I will think of [them] when I walk mine.”