Student Impact

Breanna Studley '22

A Dream Come True

Starting at a new school is always scary. Making friends and adjusting to the expectations of new teachers are layered on top of the myriad challenges of navigating adolescence. As Breanna Studley prepared to join Tabor’s class of 2022 last fall, she faced particularly daunting circumstances.

Coming in as a junior, she wasn’t sure how she would break into the friend groups that had coalesced over the past two years. Social-distancing requirements would probably make it harder. Complicating matters, Breanna broke her arm at the end of summer, forcing her to arrive a month late, her arm entombed in a massive cast. Understandably, she was a bit apprehensive about starting.

All of that dread evaporated on her first day. Her teammates on the soccer and hockey teams went out of their way to seek her out and welcome her.

“It was amazing how they took me under their wing so quickly,” Breanna says. “It’s like I wasn’t new.”

This was the culmination of a five-year dream. When Breanna was 11, she played in a youth hockey tournament at Tabor. “I remember watching the students, being in awe of the Fish Center and Travis Roy Rink and thinking that one day I want to be here.” When many students across the country were learning through computer screens last year, Breanna felt incredibly fortunate to be immersed in a campus community. She will graduate this June and hopes to play college hockey while studying criminal justice in order to pursue a career in the FBI. Although her time at Tabor has been short, she has made lifelong connections.

“The friendships I’ve made have been the most impactful part,” Breanna says. “I’m super close with a lot of the kids in the junior class, so leaving them will be sad. But you build such strong relationships here. Those don’t just fade away.”

Last spring, she wrote to several of the donors whose gifts had supported her financial aid award.

I just wanted to say thank you. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them and I just hope I’ll be able to do the same thing one day. To help out the generation younger than me. My parents always say that when I’m older and have enough money, I’d better give back to Tabor for

everything they’ve done for me. ”

– Breanna Studley