2022 Alan F. Brooks ’55 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipient
Seema Nanda ’88
The Silent Partner of a Good Education
Seema Nanda ’88 doesn’t think about her education at Westminster School on a regular basis. But when asked about it, the 2022 recipient of the Alan F. Brooks ’55 Distinguished Alumni Award, said “on reflection I think so much of the Westminster ‘Grit and Grace,’ and I think a lot about the coaches and professors talking about priorities — family, school, sports.”
Nanda will be on campus April 22 to accept her award as part of the 50 Years of Coeducation celebration. Nanda, who went on to graduate from Brown University and Boston College Law School, works at the U.S Department of Labor in Washington D.C. Previously, she led the now-named Office of Immigrant and Employee Rights Section of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and worked at the National Labor Relations Board and as an associate in private practice. Nanda has also served as CEO of the Democratic National Committee and as COO and Executive Vice President at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
“Honestly, in a lot of ways, I’ve had really hard jobs — big jobs,” she said. Westminster helped prepare her and was also “one of the most challenging times.”
She described Westminster’s education as “rigorous” and when she started as a Third Former, she did not have the confidence to think she could do what she is doing today.
“I truly think the academic excellence — really learning how to write and think — was so different from what was normally attainable in a high school education. It has absolutely stayed with me throughout my entire career.”
She recalled one time with her Fourth Form English teacher Mr. Gordon McKinley, who has since passed away, going over her paper. He was in his classroom when she popped in to see if he had corrected her paper yet. She remembers him gathering her paper and saying, “I haven’t but let’s go through it.”
“For like a half hour we went through it line by line,” said Nanda, adding he made comments or marks on each line where she could have written it better or talked about bigger themes.
She doesn’t remember the exact grade (she did well) and she remembers feeling somewhat mortified but what she was taught then — and during all her years at Westminster — has stayed with her.
“There is no one in my life who taught me how to write like Mr. McKinley,” she said.
Former Head of School (who was a history teacher at that time) Bill Philip also helped Nanda see her potential. She had written a paper in U.S. History that didn’t win the history award. Philip’s feedback was that her concepts were sophisticated but she hadn’t figured out how to organize them clearly and powerfully.
Philip suggested she reorganize the paper and enter it into a local history paper contest. She said word processors were just coming in vogue (“I kid you not.”) so she spent “what felt like my entire Fifth Form year writing this paper” and it won the history prize.
“But more than that, he taught me how to stretch myself; how to think and edit critically, and how to believe in my own abilities. I worked as hard on that paper as any brief in my career. And I’m not sure things would have been the same for me without that experience,” she said.
Being part of a community was something that also had an impact on her. Her older sister, Renu, had gone to Westminster (1985 graduate) so she had someone to look to for direction (she became editor of the school newspaper, just as her sister had done) but Nanda forged her own path.
What is your contribution to the community is something she thought about then and now, whether it was sports, in the classroom or participating in clubs and organizations. In addition to the newspaper, Nanda was involved with the student council, played volleyball and soccer and in the yearbook was voted “Talks least, says most” and “Most likely to succeed.”
“Being taught to think in a deeper way, it’s something that Westminster really taught me,” she said.
How to be resilient is another aspect of the Westminster experience that Nanda said is still with her. She said in schools today students have the chance for a “redo.” “There was no redo at Westminster,” she said.
The annual Alan Brooks award goes to an alum who exemplifies the school’s mission and core values of Grit & Grace, Community, Character, Balance and Involvement.
Nanda will be on campus April 22 to accept her award as part of the 50 Years of Coeducation celebration. Nanda, who went on to graduate from Brown University and Boston College Law School, works at the U.S Department of Labor in Washington D.C. Previously, she led the now-named Office of Immigrant and Employee Rights Section of the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and worked at the National Labor Relations Board and as an associate in private practice. Nanda has also served as CEO of the Democratic National Committee and as COO and Executive Vice President at the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
“Honestly, in a lot of ways, I’ve had really hard jobs — big jobs,” she said. Westminster helped prepare her and was also “one of the most challenging times.”
She described Westminster’s education as “rigorous” and when she started as a Third Former, she did not have the confidence to think she could do what she is doing today.
“I truly think the academic excellence — really learning how to write and think — was so different from what was normally attainable in a high school education. It has absolutely stayed with me throughout my entire career.”
She recalled one time with her Fourth Form English teacher Mr. Gordon McKinley, who has since passed away, going over her paper. He was in his classroom when she popped in to see if he had corrected her paper yet. She remembers him gathering her paper and saying, “I haven’t but let’s go through it.”
“For like a half hour we went through it line by line,” said Nanda, adding he made comments or marks on each line where she could have written it better or talked about bigger themes.
She doesn’t remember the exact grade (she did well) and she remembers feeling somewhat mortified but what she was taught then — and during all her years at Westminster — has stayed with her.
“There is no one in my life who taught me how to write like Mr. McKinley,” she said.
Former Head of School (who was a history teacher at that time) Bill Philip also helped Nanda see her potential. She had written a paper in U.S. History that didn’t win the history award. Philip’s feedback was that her concepts were sophisticated but she hadn’t figured out how to organize them clearly and powerfully.
Philip suggested she reorganize the paper and enter it into a local history paper contest. She said word processors were just coming in vogue (“I kid you not.”) so she spent “what felt like my entire Fifth Form year writing this paper” and it won the history prize.
“But more than that, he taught me how to stretch myself; how to think and edit critically, and how to believe in my own abilities. I worked as hard on that paper as any brief in my career. And I’m not sure things would have been the same for me without that experience,” she said.
Being part of a community was something that also had an impact on her. Her older sister, Renu, had gone to Westminster (1985 graduate) so she had someone to look to for direction (she became editor of the school newspaper, just as her sister had done) but Nanda forged her own path.
What is your contribution to the community is something she thought about then and now, whether it was sports, in the classroom or participating in clubs and organizations. In addition to the newspaper, Nanda was involved with the student council, played volleyball and soccer and in the yearbook was voted “Talks least, says most” and “Most likely to succeed.”
“Being taught to think in a deeper way, it’s something that Westminster really taught me,” she said.
How to be resilient is another aspect of the Westminster experience that Nanda said is still with her. She said in schools today students have the chance for a “redo.” “There was no redo at Westminster,” she said.
The annual Alan Brooks award goes to an alum who exemplifies the school’s mission and core values of Grit & Grace, Community, Character, Balance and Involvement.
