Senior of the Week: Renee Bertrand

By Tina Huang and Brian Son

“I came into Exeter with a plan of ‘how to be the best Exonian’— that included being varsity captain of the soccer team, being the president of Model [United Nations] and president of Business Club,” senior Renee Bertrand said. “Now, I do none of those things, and I haven’t since prep year.” Throughout her time on campus, Bertrand’s interests have grown well beyond her original goals. And she has made her presence felt in her four years at Exeter.

Bertrand first visited the Academy in her eighth grade year. “It was almost this utopia,” Bertrand said. “I must’ve toured [the school] during faculty meeting. We came to Grill and there were all these kids talking and laughing and having fun.” 

But Bertrand had to present a Powerpoint for her parents to let her attend. When she enrolled as a student, Bertrand’s utopia became a little more real. “The other kids here were like me. We weren’t all super geniuses. We had our own strengths and weaknesses,” Bertrand said. 

As a prep, Bertrand approached her studies with a fiercely independent mindset. “I didn’t really know how to ask for help,” she said. “I didn’t have the study skills yet. I was kind of a loner. I didn’t really want to make friends. I just wanted to get out and go to Harvard.”

However, with some advice from Amen Hall then-seniors, Bertrand’s perspective soon shifted. “They were really there for me and helped me change my mentality,” she said.

As a result, Bertrand began to evaluate her activities and goals. “I had to reassess what I wanted to do in high school and what I was passionate about,” Bertrand said. “Now, I’m really happy with what I do, and I don’t think I would have been if I kept going with the activities I started with.”

On campus, Bertrand leads multiple clubs related to community service and social justice. Bertrand currently serves on the Exeter Student Service Organization (ESSO) Board as Children’s Coordinator, overseeing all 36 children’s clubs. Bertrand, who grew up in a majority-white, upstate New York community, hopes to provide kids of color with more resources to succeed. “I want to get as many kids who are in the same situation as I was,” she said. “People of color who feel isolated in their community and really want to learn, I want to get as many of them into places like Exeter as possible.”

Bertrand has also been an active contributor in the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA). “Some of my favorite memories have been in OMA, and the faculty there are wonderful,” Bertrand said. 

Senior Dillon Mims remembers meeting Bertrand through mutual friends at OMA. “That alone is usually enough to create a pretty strong affinity for someone in my book,” he said. “And since then, I can’t count the number of times she’s made me burst out laughing while we were hanging out in the OMA.” Mims also worked alongside Bertrand in the Exonian Encounter Committee, through which, he said, “I’ve been able to observe her passion for community and event-organizing in real-time.” 

Bertrand acknowledges that her large workload can be challenging at times. “I’m not going to lie. Leading affinity groups is hard because not only are you looking after students who are in your club, but you’re also making greater change in the Exeter community.” 

But Bertrand insists that doing this work and taking the initiative to lead affinity groups is what she loves to do. “One of the reasons I decided to come to Exeter was for its diversity… especially its thriving Afro-Latinx community,” she said. 

Bertrand is also an active symphonic musician, having played the French horn for six years. “I didn’t want to major in music, but now I hope it will be a part of my life for a long time,” she admitted. 

Her friends, in particular, love her live performances throughout the school year. “She can play the French horn like no other,” senior Zoë Barron said. “I miss going to her concerts and shouting her name at the top of my lungs when she walked into The Bowld. She is so dedicated to music… I can’t wait to see what she accomplishes in the future.” 

Barron has known Bertrand since early on at Exeter. “I can’t say when I met her or when we became friends. I just remember her being a constant in my life at Exeter,” Barron said. “We used to sit at the same tall table in Elm for breakfast every weekend, where we would talk for hours. One time she made me laugh so hard I started crying, and I probably looked out of my mind, but I didn’t care because we were having such a good time.” 

“She is always two steps ahead of the game,” Barron added. “I know that when I feel overwhelmed, I can turn to Renee, and she’ll always make me feel better… While it’s not fun being run over, it felt good to have a companion through the difficult times.” 

Mims recounted a similar experience with Bertrand, particularly during his upper winter. “I’d say that what absolutely solidified our friendship were the hours and hours we spent working together on our 332s in the winter,” Mims said. “She is also incredibly genuine, open, and honest. She is not afraid to tell you the truth straight-up, and I’ve always admired that about her.” 

In her classes, Bertrand’s warmhearted personality inspires those around her. Physical Education Instructor Rebecca Lietz, who taught yoga to Bertrand for two years, noted her dedication and enthusiasm. “[Renee’s] courage in the class was contagious,” Lietz said. “She exemplified leadership by being kind and courteous to newer yoga students… Whenever Renee was attempting a newer or more difficult pose, she persevered with grace. Being able to laugh when she fell out of crow and having the ability to get back on her mat and try again showed her humility and grit!”

Over the past summer, Bertrand had an internship at Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, a non-profit pairing children of color with adult mentors in the Columbus, Ohio area, where Bertrand currently lives. Additionally, Bertrand volunteered as a camp counselor at an at-risk children’s center. “[The center] gave kids of color a solace. It was a place to go to during COVID and the Black Lives Matter protests,” Bertrand said. “Helping others, doing community work, doing social justice work, are my main passions... I’m excited to continue doing them at Exeter and in the future.”

Since her first trip to the Academy in eighth grade, Bertrand has grown as a student, leader and friend, with the school’s motto of non sibi always on her mind. “I value other people’s opinions so much more than I did before. I’m also more passionate about what I do; I really love school, and I love Harkness—that’s why I’m here. I think Exeter has developed that passion for communication, for helping others, on an individual level.”

Though she loves Exeter, Bertrand also recognizes its demands on her and her peers of color. “In my life and in my friends’ lives, a lot has come up because of COVID. We’ve gotten closer, but it’s more than each of us can handle,” Bertrand said. “The school constantly asks a lot from its students, and with COVID and Black Lives Matter, the school needs to recognize what students are going through.”

“There’s a lot of unsaid burden that comes along with [being a student of color], and there’s a lot of mentoring you have to do for younger students.” 

In her years at Exeter, Bertrand has become more aware of the racism she and others students face, noting the campus’s lack of resources. “You have to be there for so many different individuals because there’s not enough support on campus. In that way, I’ve kind of taken on this mentorship role for some students,” she said. 

As she enters her last year at Exeter, Bertrand will continue to be a leading voice on a socially distanced campus still reckoning with its history of racial injustice. “I just had such a rough prep year that I can’t imagine another student going through that; I can’t imagine another student feeling that sad, that lonely, that unheard,” Bertrand said. “So, the reason I’m on campus, the reason I’m here and not at home with my family, whom I love very much, is that I want to make Exeter better for other students. It needs to be better, it can be better, and it should be better.”

“We claim to be the best school in the country, but I need to see that for myself.”