The Banner took some time to catch up with Amaan Maiden, president of the Class of 2020, and ask him to reflect upon his high school years.
What advice would you give to younger students?
"Make sure you guys do your work on time, and make sure you make your school work your number one priority. Also stay out of trouble and pick your friend groups wisely."
If you could give one piece of advice or knowledge to yourself as a freshmen, what would it be?
"Get to class on time and stop watching all the fights."
Who inspired/encouraged/guided you throughout your journey at NBTHS?
"Mainly my mom, dad, and brother; they continually pushed me to put 100% effort into anything I did, especially school work. Teachers [administrators and staff] such as Mr. Speller, Mrs. Eaton-Mercado, Mrs. Beaugris, Mr. Swain, Mr. Emmanuel, Ms. Karla, Mrs. Pendleton, Mr. Cipot, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Byrom were all great to me. [They] helped me enjoy high school itself. I had a great core of friends.
People like Keron Barbour, Abdul Savage, Lineth Jacquez, Myles Bailey, Julia Davies, Taija Dixon, Samod Wingo, Jovi Mahajan, Isaiah Oduro, Bryce Williams, Robby Plaha, Justin Hill, Justin Soto, Kamiyah Robinson, Brandon Villegas, Corey Smith, Amelia Santiago, Gavin Murillo, Will Britton, Taaje Welcome, and Ahyan Brown-Miller are all great students, great people, and great friends. When you surround yourself with successful people you’re more to likely end up successful yourself."
What are your goals during and after college?
"I don’t have any specific goals, but [my] main goal is to graduate and become successful while enjoying life."
What college are you planning to attend and what will be your major?
"I will be attending Temple University [with a] major in Sports Management."
What inspired you to want this honor (Class President) in your school?
"I could see how our school spirit was really low, and how we needed a boost to make our senior year as great as it could be. Our first class event raised over 100 dollars in just people signing up for participation, but unfortunately we couldn’t see it play out due to the virus."
Do you regret NOT doing anything in life so far?
"No, I am happy with my past, mistakes and all. There’s a lesson in every mistake. But yeah, all my goals that I wanted to accomplish in high school have been accomplished, other than winning senior assassins."
Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
"Hopefully working with one of the sports organizations in Philadelphia, or managing an athlete."
What was your favorite memory of your time at NBTHS?
"I’m going to be a little biased, but it's easily my time playing football. I made some of my closest friends playing here at the high school. I want to thank Coach Cipot (all three of them), Day, Brown, Byrom, Viotto (even though he left), Meagher, and Totten. They’ve been great coaches and overall just great people to me."
What struggles did you have getting to where you are in life now?
"I dealt with some physical struggles; I partially tore my ACL my freshman year and I couldn’t even run for eight months. That was hard for me. I dealt with a lot of hardships, along with fear, towards playing sports again. But playing football boosted my morale and gave me something to look forward to every day."
Amaan Maiden '20
Senior Class President
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