Andrew Nober, Salutatorian

An FWCD Original, Andrew Nober will attend Harvard University in the fall. He plans to enter as undecided but is leaning toward majoring in government. “I have always been most excited by my history and English classes at Country Day,” he shared. As for his Class of 2021 peers, Andrew loves that they are tight-knit and take care of one another.

A National Merit Scholar and a member of FWCD’s chapter of Cum Laude since junior year, Andrew embraced FWCD’s time-honored 3 A’s. He excelled in academically rigorous classes, cross country and track, and in band (through 10th grade), playing the euphonium.

“For me, the 3A’s meant that education was not limited to just what happens in the classroom. While I learned a lot from regular instruction, I do not feel like my experience at FWCD would have been complete without six years of band or athletics,” he said. “My time in band class taught me a great deal about how to work cohesively in a group, and my experience in sports really let me push myself and compete in a way I could not in school. FWCD gave me an excellent academic education, but I feel that focusing on all 3 A’s instead of just one is what makes me feel prepared for college and beyond.”

A commitment to service and making the world a better place is essential to Andrew. He earned the prestigious Eagle Scout rank from The Boy Scouts of America. For this project, Andrew worked with the Martin Luther King, Jr., Community Center in Dallas to help build two large library carts so the staff could transport books from facility to facility. He also devoted hundreds of service hours to cleaning up the Appalachian Trail through the Student Conservation Association Trail Crew, working at Camp Impact as a summer experience for children living in homeless shelters, and participating in Teen Court as a lead attorney. As a prosecuting attorney, Andrew goes through all of the actions normally conducted during an actual trial. The goal is to try to get his defendant assigned to as many community service hours as possible to help students who do not contest their infraction mitigate fees that they would otherwise have to pay as a result of their actions. 

Andrew cites Sara Teegarden as a mentor who has been important to his growth as a student and a person. “Her class taught me a lot about the government, but it also helped me mature and improve how I interacted with my classmates,” he said. “Since sophomore year, she has always been helpful whenever I needed advice.” He also gained great insight through the Civil and Criminal Law Class taught by Head of Upper School Alexis Stern this year. 

A favorite FWCD memory involves the fall sports season during his junior year when the country team ran in a North Zone meet on a weekday morning. “It was an especially cold and windy morning, but we ran really well and set a lot of personal records,” Andrew recalled. “After the meet, the whole team stopped for lunch, which ended up taking a few hours even though the meet was just in Dallas. That lunch is my favorite FWCD memory. We were very close as a team and had a lot of fun that day, running, eating, talking, laughing.”

Andrew has a genuinely inquisitive mind and deep curiosity. At Harvard, he looks forward to exploring new areas, whether they be new academic subjects or new clubs and organizations, and meet new people from interesting backgrounds.