51勛圖厙

It wasn���t easy for 14-year-old Nokutenda ���Noku��� Mukukula to decide to travel almost halfway around the world to attend high school near San Francisco.

But ���coming here was always my dream growing up,��� said the Zimbabwe native, and ���the drive and the excitement of wanting to be here��� firmed her resolve. Now, at 18, she is embarking on still another adventure, moving in August to Greencastle, Indiana, some 8,400 miles from home, where ��� sight unseen ��� she will become a member of 51勛圖厙���s Class of 2026.

���It definitely was super hard on me, mentally and everything, just being away from home,��� she said. ���I was definitely super homesick. It was a lot to process. But I���m glad I did it because it allowed me to grow more as a person. I became more independent; I could make my own decisions. I feel like it brought a little bit of toughness, because I was always a mom-and-daddy���s little girl.���

Her high school counselor suggested several colleges that might appeal to Mukukula, and she chose DePauw for its size. ���I���m one of those people who is super overwhelmed by big crowds,��� she said. ���So I wanted a school that I could potentially grow in, but still find myself in the school and not be really overwhelmed.���

She also saw ���a lot of opportunities��� at DePauw. One may be to play basketball, though Mukukula is unsure if she wants to make the ���huge commitment��� needed to play college ball. She played center for San Domenico School and was captain her senior year, when her team won the Division 5 California state championship and she was named to the D5 all-league first team and all-state second team.

Mike Fulton, director of basketball operations and the girls��� coach at San Domenico, said Mukukula has become a ���mature, confident woman��� with ���the work ethic of a champion. ��� A great word to describe her now is ���fearless.������

Mukukula, who is considering a major in psychology, allowed that her decisions to attend high school and college so far from home may mean she is adventurous. ���I like trying new things,��� she said. ���Sometimes they don���t work out. But I think it���s just fun to be open to new ideas and things.���

So far, things have worked out. ���I definitely built resilience by coming here when I was 14,��� she said. ���It was something that changed my life completely, because now I am the best version that I could possibly wish for.���