Unique school, unique sports. Many Paideia students participate in sports outside of conventional high school athletics. For example, Addy Duitsman ’26 trains in Tai Chi, a form of martial arts that she would describe as “Kung Fu but in slow motion.” She trains for an hour every week, and her favorite thing about the sport is the community.
With over six years of experience in horseback riding, Hattie Gegax ’27 is deeply committed to her sports. Gegax spends six days a week at her barn, as well as teaching, supervising, and doing chores with the horses so she can earn classes and clinics. Gegax also works in horse showmanship, where she presents her horse, Flacker, to get scored on certain skills. Her favorite part is “definitely the relationship I’ve built with my barn friends and everybody I work with and the work ethic it’s taught me.”
Dani Da-Silva ’26 rock climbs; she works 12-15 hours weekly and is a member of Stone Summit’s Elite Team. She’s been climbing since she was a little kid, and she attended nationals last summer where she was 15th in the country for speed climbing. Qualifying for this year’s national competition, Da-Silva is training to compete for the top three; if she makes it, she’ll go to the world championships. “I think that climbing has such a supportive environment and everyone really pushes you to succeed and really wants you to succeed,” Da-Silva says.
Paideia also has had a prominent community of well-decorated fencers, including Sebastian Elwood. Elwood has been training 10-15 hours a week for over 11 years, and his hard work has paid off with- the wide array of accolades he has earned. He’s on a six-time national medalist team and has a national gold medal in the 20 under 20 category. “I love how it’s very individual and adaptive. Each match is always different and fun. It’s kinda like boxing a little bit,” Elwood says.
