Alison Noji gets what she wants, and she will let you know it. But the Friends School senior does not have an attitude about it; she just gets what she wants by working hard for it every step of the way.
Rich Seiler has had the privilege to teach Noji, as well as be her varsity soccer coach, at Friends. He is still impressed with how hard a worker she is.
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“Even when she was hurt earlier in the season, she was out here doing every drill she could,” Seiler said. “She just has a tremendous work ethic.”
A history teacher at Friends, Seiler had Noji in his class when she was a freshman.
“She did not miss a trick,” Seiler said. “She always made sure she had everything right and she was really organized, but she was also interested to the point that she always did her best.”
Seiler has Noji playing center midfield for the Quakers, and that is no mistake. Distributing the ball around the field is one of her specialties, and Seiler feels she is one of the best decision-makers he can put on the field.
Felicia Wilks, an English teacher at Friends, had Noji last year in her Literature of the African Diaspora class.
“She was wonderful,” Wilks said. “She is the sort of kid who you know if nobody else gets something, she will.”
Wilks praised Noji?s ability to lead a discussion in class without dominating it, a talent she might have derived from her time in the model United Nations.
“She is an excellent writer, but she is also the kind of kid who would give me a draft two days before the paper was due and rewrite it,” Wilks said. “She learns from her own missteps. She seems to be extremely interested in learning. She takes it upon herself to do better.”
Noji says that academics have been important to her as long as she can remember.
“I get that at home from my parents,” she said. “My parents have always helped me to do the best, and I expect that because they expect that of me. I am determined to get what I want. In the classroom, it would be to get the best grade I can, and on the field, it is to get the best grade I can. I just keep pursuing that.”
Noji finds a way to keep her grade-point average at 3.7 and excels on the field while packing her schedule with extracurricular activities. With the model UN, she is also the club head of the Asian Student Association at Friends, works with UNICEF and as a tutor for city public school kids, and also plays club soccer with the Bay Area Pride.
“I think I do better if I have soccer at the end of the day because I have something to keep me focused.”
Noji is still deciding on colleges, but she has a short list that includes Virginia, Emory and Trinity. Favoring math and science, she wants to pursue a career in architecture or engineering because that?s what her parents do. She said, however, that her college soccer career may end up being with a club team.
“I don?t think I would be able to balance academics and athletics as well as I can here,” Noji said. “I still want to play soccer, but not at such a high level.”
