Michaela Phan

At senior Michaela Phan’s middle school, studying Latin was “not cool.” While her peers grumbled about spending weekends at Latin conventions, Phan enjoyed the chariot racing, discussions and academic contests in which they were forced to participate. Five years later, Phan is still devoted to classics and inspires her Exeter classmates and Kirtland Society (Latin Club) clubmates to do the same.

“Classics are really fulfilling when you understand [the text] fully, get past the grammatical aspects and go into understanding the concepts behind what the author is talking about,” Phan said. There are invaluable lessons that one can learn from ancient texts. Phan gave an example: “Horace talks a lot about how you should deal with struggles,” she said. “He talks a lot about the mindset you should have in life. In bad times, have an optimistic mindset, and in fortunate times, be humble.”

Many of Phan’s peers attest to her love of classics—including alum Tim Han ’18. “Studying classics requires a certain degree of quixotism and a real passion for Latin or Greek,” he said. “Marching through Caesar or Vergil can become an Anabasis of sorts unless you are the type of person who can genuinely get excited about the readings. Michaela’s inexhaustible energy and optimism not only help her through Classics but enable her to inspire everyone else in class to keep at it.”

In the classroom, lower Phil Horrigan also commented on Phan’s devotion to Latin. “She loves the classics so much,” he said. “This love allows her to find beauty in the subject.”

Upper Kevin Xu also finds Michaela’s optimism in Kirtland Society infectious and appreciates her contributions to the club. “I admire Michaela most because of her unending enthusiasm for classics and the people around her,” he said. “Kirtland can be intense sometimes with the aggressive table-slapping and answer-shouting that happens during Certamen practices, but Michaela’s stories and tidbits always lighten the mood at our meetings.”

Beyond Exeter, Phan serves as a dedicated 2nd Vice President of the National Junior Classical League (NJCL). NJCL is one of the largest academic youth organizations in the world with more than 45,000 members in the United States and Canada. The goal of the organization is to combine different aspects of classical studies while also using its vast resources to make positive change in its members’ communities. NJCL holds athletic contests, art contests, community service contests and website contests. “We try to make sure the classics are still alive with younger generations,” Phan said. “Throughout the year, I take care of community service—I help chapters around the country with their community service projects. Every month we have an average of $2000 raised.”

Horrigan remembered campaigning for the role of 2nd Vice President with Phan. “On one of the days [a group of Exeter students] were handing out fans to aid her campaign, and Michaela managed to hand out so many more than us because she could engage anyone that we saw in a mini-conversation and get them to take a fan,” he said.

Phan has also dedicated her energy to serving as the Vice President of Student Council (StuCo). She served as a mentor to fellow Student Council Executive Board member Audrey Vanderslice. “Michaela taught me pretty much everything I know about being a co-secretary on StuCo,” she said. “She’s incredibly patient and has this awesome ability to mediate conversation by genuinely listening to what people are saying and bringing this peaceful aura to the table.”

Han, who served as Vice President during the 2017-18 term, attested to the importance of the Vice President role as part of the Student Council Executive Board’s team. “The President’s role is to set the agenda for an organization and lead, but the Vice President should assist wherever needed in order to support that agenda,” he said. “Most importantly, this comes in the form of not just logistical support, but managing interpersonal relations and board dynamics. Michaela’s unique combination of contagious kindness, enthusiasm, passion and genuine selflessness serves her well in this regard.”

In addition, Phan will serve as a captain of the Exeter Golf team this spring. Even before her appointment to the position, she acted as a leader on the team, according to her co-captain upper Kennedy Moore. “She’s very friendly with new players and contributes a lot to the relaxed, community feel of the golf team,” he said. “I admire her mental toughness. She always finds a way to win in early season matches.”

Lower Will Huang agreed. “She’s always checking in with you to make sure that classes are going smoothly or...that you’re eating breakfast,” Huang said. “It’s almost like she’s the golf team’s student listener.”

In and outside of the classroom, Phan has found a way to radiate optimism to the people around her. “Her love of classical studies reveals itself at its zaniest whenever I hear her speaking about the activities of the Kirtland Society or Junior Classical League,” said Classics Instructor Paul Boize Langford. “Yet in the classroom, she is a model Harkness student—one whose name I have always been glad to see on the roster.”

In Wheelwright Hall, where Phan is a proctor, she brings the same positive attitude, Vanderslice noted. “Michaela is one of those people that has an unbelievably infectious good mood every single time you see her,” she said. “She is always always smiling and is definitely one of my favorite people in Wheelwright.”

In academics, too, she contributes the same spirit, according to upper Zachary Feng. “She's a really nice person—always ready to learn—and her enthusiasm rubs off on the people around her,” he said. Feng noted that Phan brings the same attitude to peer tutoring sessions, where she serves as a head tutor, and to Pinoy Society, of which she is a cohead.

Phan has made lifelong friends at Exeter. Reflecting on their time together at PEA, alum Kofi Ansong ’17 asserted that Phan’s attitude aided him through rough patches at Exeter. “I really admire Michaela’s optimism,” Ansong said. “Times at Exeter can be stressful, and I always found Michaela as someone I could talk to who would cheer me up and have me see the glass as half full.”

Ansong remembered the moment that he realized Phan was a true friend at his senior prom. “She was familiar with all of my friends, who were mostly other classics scholars,” Ansong said. “Nevertheless, the ease with which we conversed and she conversed with my friends that night made me realize that Michaela was a friend I’d hope to have long after my four years at Exeter.”

Reflecting upon Michaela’s nature, Han came to the conclusion that there is no way to do justice to her character. “She is completely and authentically selfless, cares deeply about everyone around her and is an incredibly thoughtful friend,” he said. “There are not enough platitudes in the English language as to accurately describe her loving kindness.”

Phan attributes much of her life outlook to her faith. Though she has always been religious, Phan says she became more in touch with her faith upon her arrival to campus when she found a community with fellow Exonians in Bible Study, a secular discussion group surrounding the Old and New Testaments. In contemplation of a future in which religion and Classics can intersect, Phan is considering working for the Church as a pastor. “I realized that pastors study the Bible and Greek. I’ve listened to sermons where pastors will talk about the original Greek [Bible] and what it means. This could be a whole other way to pursue my passions,” she said. “It would fulfill the aspect of being able to connect with people, socialize all the time and be around a great community.”

Senior Paula Coraspe is confident in Phan’s abilities to accomplish whatever she sets her mind to. “She's so determined and works hard without burdening others,” Coraspe said. “She's just instinctively a kind and understanding person, and she goes through life consistently making other people’s lives better.”