Senior of the Year: Mykel Miller
Varsity athlete, proctor, student listener. ESSO board member, co-head, friend, big brother. In all walks of life, senior Mykel Miller embodies what it is to be a true leader. Miller came to Exeter from Brooklyn, N.Y. through the Prep 9 program, after reading about boarding school through “The Catcher in the Rye” in fourth grade. A Jack Kent Cooke scholar, Miller has taken advantage of every opportunity Exeter has to offer over the past four years, from playing football and track to taking voice lessons; from dancing with the school’s step team, Outkasts, to co-heading the Young Brothers Society. No matter what, he builds lasting connections with the people around him.
Miller joined football when he was a prep, and has been on varsity since his lower year. Since then, Miller has worked tirelessly, even overcoming an injured ankle, to become the formidable player he is today. In the fall, he will attend Williams College to pursue the sport. When he came to Exeter, Miller had some experience with track, and he has been a committed and valuable member to the team since, bestowing not only his throwing skills, but also his enthusiastic and encouraging energy, upon the team.
Robert Morris, who coaches football, admired not only Miller’s talent but also the dedication and time he has put into improving his skills. “I have seen him from the very start when he was a beginner and have seen him develop over the years through an incredible amount of hard work in the weight room, in track and in practice each day,” Morris said, “He has developed his body and his skill to the point where he became an absolute force on the football field this year and to the point now where he is off to play college football.”
“What he has is innate and intangible, something unique only to his presence.”
Morris went on to say that Miller is a true success story who demonstrates the rewards of hard work. “He shows that you can start a sport like football in the ninth grade and through hard work, commitment, selflessness and trust you can move up through the ranks from JV to varsity to college player,” he said. “That didn’t just happen, it happened because Mykel made it happen.”
According to Miller, playing football, especially senior year, allowed him to grow both athletically and as a leader as he worked to foster a caring team. “I was excited to play, I was happy to be with my teammates,” he said. “It gave me an opportunity to step into a leadership position and make sure we were an accepting team as much as a physically dominant one.”
Senior Chudi Ikpeazu commended Miller’s commitment to being a positive and encouraging teammate. “In football practices, he inspired me to try harder even though I was in pain. In track, he inspires me to lift harder,” Ikpeazu said. “He inspires me to try in everything I do.”
Morris agreed and said, “[Miller] is one of the most positive and optimistic people I have ever come across.” He applauded Miller’s leadership on the team. “He brings younger people under his wing and serves as a tremendous mentor,” Morris said. “He is a trusted good friend to many.”
Track coach Richard Hardej, who has coached Miller in shotput and discus for four years, admired Miller’s commitment to the team.“Mykel is a hard worker, very diligent about listening closely,” Hardej said. “He does all the preparation work and is very self disciplined. If I tell him to go do a heavy lifting day, he goes and does it on his own.”
Hardej has not only been Miller’s coach, but also his math teacher. Hardej described Miller’s extreme presence in the classroom. “Around the Harkness table it’s pretty typical to have side conversations going on. When Mykel speaks, people stop talking and they listen very closely and that’s out of the huge respect they have for him.”
A leader both on and off the field, Miller became a student listener his upper year and served as proctor this year. Miller explained that assuming the role of student listener helped him to find more compassion for the people around him and to understand their diverse array of backgrounds and experiences. “Everyone experiences things in different ways and everyone sees the world differently,” he said. “Hearing everyone’s experiences and being able to share my wisdom and the wisdom I’ve gotten from other students who I went to when I was younger, or who I still go to, gave me the opportunity to see Exeter from a different way, and to see a different, more truthful side of PEA.”
Senior Michaela Nickerson reflected on Miller’s compassion and the lessons he has taught her. “He has the capacity to make everyone he comes in contact with feel special and does so just to brighten someone’s day,” she said. “He’s taught me how to loosen up and have a little fun. He’s taught other kids how to study or play sports.”
In another act of big-brotherly leadership, Miller joined ESSO’s Preschool Gym Class Club as well as ESSO Kid’s Basketball his lower year. He became an ESSO board member his upper year, assuming the role of children’s coordinator. Fellow coordinator upper Connie Cai said that working alongside him was amazing. “He brought cheer, sass and fun to every meeting,” she said. “Not only that, but he’s genuinely passionate about working with children, and the community children love working with him. His personality is one that is full of empathy—he cares for the people around him, and he often puts them in front of himself.”
In yet another leadership role, Miller serves as co-head of the Young Brothers Society, or “YBS,” a community for men of color on campus to get together and talk about pertinent issues of the day. “Being in a space [like YBS] allows students to have the comfort to be honest and to ask those questions that they want to ask without being judged,” Miller said. “I’m happy I’m a part of it.”
In conjunction with his responsibilities in athletics and clubs, Miller has found the time to be a caring friend and to foster lasting connections with people. “It [my time at Exeter] really comes down to the way I’ve been able to grow a relationship with not just Exeter kids in general but the chance that the kids gave me [to be] a big brother or a really tight friend,” he said. “Learning to really be friends with people and build connections is the most important thing I got out of here.”
Miller’s longtime friend and fellow senior Fedja Celebic reflected on Miller’s friendship over the past years. “Myke is the most humble, kind and honest young man I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing,” he said. “His integrity and genuine concern for the well being of others, even if it causes detriment to himself, is unrivaled.”
Senior Efe Airewele agreed with Celebic, adding that Miller’s strength as a friend stemmed from his ability to be earnest and thoughtful as well as fun. “Mykel is a good friend because he is someone you can joke around with but also be serious with,” she said. “He’s someone that will push your thinking in and out of the classroom. The same hang out spot where I’ll just relax and do homework with him is the same place where we’ll have heated discussions about improving the relationships between people of color on campus.”
For Airewele, Miller has been an inspiration worth emulating. “He pushes me and makes me want to strive for more,” she continued. “I’m grateful to have been on this journey we call high school with him.”
According to his friends, Miller has grown and matured in more ways than one since his prep year. “Myke has only become better at being himself. He embraced who he is more, which allowed him to be better at giving back to his community,” Celebic said. “What he has is innate and intangible, something unique only to his presence.” Nickerson agreed, saying, “Mykel has really grown into himself at Exeter.”
Miller credited his growth to the opportunities Exeter has given him. “The experiences and mindsets that Exeter provides have also been really important to me and shaped who I am,” he said. When he was younger, he often felt scared to speak up, particularly because of his stutter.
Nickerson said that Mykel’s greatest strength lies not in his academic or athletic ability, but in his character. “I think he can teach just about anyone how to be a better person,” she said. “He’s just the best guy I know and everyone I’ve asked has agreed. He’s Myke.”
Miller plans to combine a pre-med track with a dual major in international relations and women and gender studies at Williams, where he will undoubtedly bring his dedication, commitment, compassion and leadership qualities.
Morris reflected on Miller’s myriad of accomplishments, describing him as an inspiration to all. “Over his time at PEA, because he jumped in with both feet and set down his own path and not the path of others and he trusted in the process, Mykel developed the confidence to play football, to speak around the Harkness table, to speak in front of assembly, to play with children each week, to go to China for a whole summer by himself and to play basketball with monks, for goodness sake,” he said. “Mykel is the epitome of what is possible.”