Half Trojan -Half Hawk

Most of us wake up at 7:00, maybe earlier, and head to school for eight hours of learning. While Delaney Bonifacio also wakes around 7:00, she heads straight for the ice rink for two hours of hockey practice followed by an hour of o ice workouts. For the past five years, Bonifacio has spent half of her academic year in Ashland Massachusetts at the North American Hockey Academy. Hockey runs in the Bonifacio blood, as both of her older brothers played hockey and were a part of Central’s varsity team. Bonifacio herself started playing hockey at the age of 4, and followed in fellow hockey player Delaney Drake’s footsteps in attending NAHA once she felt it was time to switch to girls hockey. Bonifacio’s favorite part was having teammates from all over the country. She explained that, “it’s so cool going to a school where everyone shares the same passion as you do, but having them come from all over, with dierent paths and experiences makes it all the better.” She also did not mind playing hockey all day instead of doing school work. “Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy school, but I’d rather be playing hockey more than going to school and NAHA gave me that, but with a good education to get me where I needed to be in the amount of time we had,” Bonifacio said. Not only was she attending school while playing by: SOPHIA BOYCE editor-in-chief

hockey, she also was traveling every weekend. “I feel like I’ve seen more of the world playing hockey than I have without it,” Bonifacio said. During her five years at NAHA she traveled to Minnesota, Chicago, Boston, Vancouver, New York, “places people dream to go, and I got to do it all while playing hockey,” she explained. While half her year was spent jet setting for hockey games, the other half was spent back home in TC going to school for eight hours straight with the rest of us. Sometimes she would come back and would be super behind, but other classes she would be super ahead. Some classes she would have to spend hours trying to catch up, and others she would sit bored in class having already learned everything. But for her the hardest part was sitting still for eight hours, “at NAHA, I’m so used to being active all day, and having a little school, but coming back and having to sit in a classroom all day, I was so ancy and anxious. I just wanted to be playing hockey!” Going to boarding school sounds like all fun and games, but Bonifacio had to give up a lot. She didn’t get to do all the normal high school teen stu the rest of us did. She didn’t get to go out on Fridays with her friends. She didn’t get to go to school sporting events, she missed out on school dances, and most of all homemade meals.“It was always travel, homework, hockey. There’s no break, it’s hockey, hockey hockey, for five months straight and it’s super taxing, but it’s also the most rewarding thing ever,” Bonifacio said. Looking back on it all gives her “chills and makes [her] so happy that her parents gave her the opportunity to do all that.” But attending NAHA also made her appreciate her family’s company so much more saying, “a lot of kids are just waiting to move out on their own,” but she already knows what that’s like. Going away also made her appreciate her hometown more as well. “Boston doesn’t have lakes or the things Traverse City does, so it makes coming home that much more exciting!”