One Senior Spotlight for this week is on Nicolas Du Pont, who is as well-known around campus as most teachers since he has helped the RMA family in countless ways! Nicolas is a lifer who has called RMA home for 15 years (he started here in Pre-K at age three) and has played a critical role by helping around the school for six of those years, troubleshooting problems with classroom projectors, running the lights and sound for school plays, taking pictures at events, and so much more.

To conclude his high school career, Nicolas is taking AP Calculus AB, AP Physics, Honors English 12, and AP Psychology. Showing off his academic success, Nicolas has won awards over his four years in high school, like B Honor Roll in Grades Nine, Ten, and Eleven, and Outstanding Achievement in Spanish I. He was also recognized with the Junior Class Service Award for his contributions to the 2024 prom, the Robert Koszelak Memorial Scholarship (awarded to students showing a selfless nature; an honest and sincere concern for their friends, students and fellow staff; a commitment to citizenship, leadership, character building in others; and a positive attitude) for the 2023-2024 school year, and the Turner Battle Scholarship (awarded to students that show leadership, scholarship, college potential, and school spirit) in 2023-2024.

However, Nicolas’s success around RMA is not limited to academics. This year, Nicolas is taking Yearbook and Drama; he has participated in these projects all of high school and actually started helping Mrs. Whitehurst with them when he was still in Middle School, so they are two fields he is very familiar with. Showing his dedication to the arts, Nicolas has won awards such as Excellence in 2-D Digital Photography, Yearbook Photography, and Technical Theatre, as well as Outstanding Performance in Drama. The awards do not stop there, as he has also been recognized for serving as the 2019-2025 Technical Theater Lighting Director and the 2023-2024 Eyrie Yearbook Photo Editor. 

These interests and talents go beyond formal classes and awards, as he is the Technical Director of the Drama Club at RMA, which runs the two plays that the school puts on each year, and President of Photography Club, which Nicolas continued after its founder, Eric Xue, graduated. Through the Photography Club, he makes sure pictures are taken at school events such as dances and games, and the club makes those photos available online.

Nicolas’s love for the arts goes off-campus too. He held two art exhibitions at the Dunn Center in 2022 and is currently holding one now entitled Heaven and Earth, collaborating with another photographer: his photographs represent Heaven, while hers represent Earth. He sold (and is still selling) photographs from these exhibits at Wesleyan, which include nature, space, and theatre as subjects. To see his current gallery, click here!

As an extension of his interest in technology, Nicolas created the RMA Esports Team in 2023 and has been its captain ever since. This team allows its members to compete with students from other schools by playing video games such as Valorant online. However, their competition is not just restricted to online gaming. The team went to Charlotte in February of 2024 and 2025 to compete against multiple schools and organizations. 

Nicolas has already committed to High Point University and plans to major in Computer Science and pursue Computer Network Architecture. However, he was also accepted to ECU, High Point University, and UNC Charlotte, where he was up for the Levine Scholarship, but chose to attend High Point because they have a strong Computer Science program; plus, he was accepted into the Honors College and wanted to take advantage of that opportunity. Just two weeks ago, he received the DAR Scholarship (awarded for students pursuing higher education) to help offset some of the cost of college, so Nicolas has his plan in place for his near future.

Get to know Nicolas!

Who is your role model?

Dr. K

What is your favorite movie or go-to song?

Ford v. Ferrari

What is a talent of yours that we may not know about or something nobody knows about you?

I love sailing and racing competitively.

Where is your favorite place and why?

Oriental, NC, because I love the sailing environment there.

Describe your dream vacation

My dream vacation would be to visit the ruins in Greece and Rome.

If you were trapped on a deserted island, what three things would you bring?

A knife, a fire starter, and food.

If you could be any teacher for the day, who would it be and why?

Mrs. Whitehurst, because I love theater and would love to teach a technical theater class.

What will you miss about RMA?

I will miss the small atmosphere and my teachers.

What is one lesson you learned at RMA?

If you really want something, you will do all you can to get there.

What is one piece of advice you’d give to an incoming freshman or to your younger self about high school?

Try something new, and give theatre a chance.