Maria Heeter
In her meditation—which she delivered at Phillips Church earlier this spring— senior Maria Heeter described her journey to connect to her middle name, Denali. Heeter embarked on this voyage of self-discovery without her iPhone in order to be more present in the world around her.
Heeter’s friend, senior Cora Payne, said that “Maria’s disdain for her phone is somehow simultaneously infuriating and inspiring.”
Hailing from Dover, New Hampshire, Heeter has been driving herself to and from campus since her lower year. After a tiresome day at the Academy, she enjoys the time to unwind and decompress that driving home affords her. This solitude is one of her favorite things about being a day student. She has twelve playlists compiled for her half-hour drives, one for each of her terms at the Academy.
Reading and writing have been a large part of Heeter’s Exeter career. She has been passionate about writing from a young age, but her time at the Academy inspired her to pursue humanities further. Heeter noted English Instructor Susan Repko as an inspiring mentor for her writing. “[Repko] was a writer and she talked about the downfalls and hardships of wanting to do it full time. But I remember turning in a piece and she said, ‘You are going to do this no matter what,’” Heeter said.
“Maria is an absolutely radical person… She’s funny, brave and thoughtful—not just in her interactions with other people, but in the way that she sees the world."
Heeter has a group of close friends at Exeter who share her passion for English, and hopes to find a similar community after her graduation. She plans to major in English at college become a writer. “I am still figuring out what type of writer I want to be,” she said.
To pursue her interest in writing, Heeter interned at the Academy of American Poets in New York City last summer. She lived alone in an Airbnb for six weeks and spent her days reading and sorting poetry for the Academy.
Heeter continued her studies in literature at Stratford, England during her senior fall. Her term abroad let her focus and engage with her love of writing “in a beautiful place so rich with art and theater.”
In addition to being a prominent writer on campus, Heeter is an avid member of the Gender and Sexuality Alliance (GSA). She has been a cohead of the club since lower year. “GSA has helped me become more confident with myself,” Heeter said. “It gave me a support system when I was still figuring things out.”
English Instructor Alex Myers, one of the advisers for GSA, described Heeter’s tireless leadership with the group. “Sometimes running a GSA meeting is like trying to herd cats, but Maria shows great patience and persistence in getting the group to focus,” he said.
Fellow co-head of GSA and upper Adrian Venzon added that “since having her back [from Stratford], there has been a big difference; we are more organized with her here. I will miss having her as a fellow co-head in GSA.” One of Venzon’s favorite memories of Heeter is of a night they spent with the club, making buttons decorated with their friends’ faces.
Along with the GSA, Heeter is an Editor-in-Chief of PEAL, the PEA Lifestyle Magazine. She is excitedly crafting the publication’s next issue. “Maria has a clear creative vision for PEAL, and she also really cares about making it a collaborative and an inclusive publication. I am excited to work with her,” English instructor and PEAL adviser Barbara Desmond said.
Heeter values real conversation, whether it’s with friends discussing existentialism over breakfast at Wetherell or engaging with faculty members. “She has often stopped by my room to talk, and it’s never superficial,” Myers said. “She wants to delve into gender and sexuality and history and politics and a whole host of other topics.”
Payne and Venzon both appreciate Heeter’s way with people and of looking at the world, remarking how rare it is to find such a friend, who will “make homemade pasta or tin foil hats with [you],” as Payne said, and “have both serious and really comedic, lively conversations,” according to Venzon.
Heeter has left a deep impression on those she is closest with at Exeter. Venzon described Heeter as a “big sister,” adding that she’s become an integral part of his life at Exeter. “I feel like I’m never bored when I’m talking to Maria,” Venzon said.
Payne said, “Maria is an absolutely radical person… She’s funny, brave and thoughtful—not just in her interactions with other people, but in the way that she sees the world.