Nora Stufft, a senior at Meridian, was a foreign service student who came to Falls Church at the beginning of middle school. She is in several clubs and extracurriculars, although she is best known in Falls Church for basketball.
As a young girl growing up in Russia, she tested ballet and hockey amongst other things, but nothing clicked. After moving to the US in 6th grade, she picked up basketball, and has not stopped since. At the beginning, she was pushed by her parents to pursue the sport. However, she didn’t really enjoy it until her freshman year.
“Things aren’t very fun if you’re not very good at them,” Stufft explained. Freshman year, she improved significantly, but it was one of her close friends that changed her mindset regarding basketball.
“One of my friends really inspired me throughout her career. She was really my main motivator. She was like ‘You need to play, you need to keep playing’, and she got me into it and made me fall in love with the game,” Stufft said.
Stufft played on JV and Varsity all four years and is now a captain on the girls varsity team. However, it has not been easy.
Nora faced many obstacles on her path to success, including constant injuries. Her sophomore year, Stufft tore her meniscus and PCL, which affected her ability to play her junior year. Her recovery led her to weightlifting, agility training and overall working on improving in basketball. This led to her being extra prepared for her least season of high school basketball.
“It was almost like a necessary failure,” Stufft expressed.
While her high school career will come to an end, her post-high school basketball journey is only beginning. Originally, when looking at colleges, she began looking at small D1 schools that had strong academics. She took a big interest in the Naval Academy, with her passion for the military. As she explored the school more, her interest grew, and that’s where she thought she would end up. Nonetheless, after a falling out with a coach, she focused her sights on the Coast Guard.
However, after doing a questionnaire this past summer, the Air Force Prep Academy appeared on her radar. She went up to Colorado for a tour, and was accepted to the school last fall.
“There are so many benefits to serving in the military. I would say you know, being that beacon of hope,” Stufft added.
Stufft also has a niche hidden talent: flying planes. Her interest sparked from watching other people who knew how to fly. After doing research, she found a flight school in Pennsylvania.
“It’s just so fascinating to me, learning how to fly,” Stufft pointed out.
Although Stufft only flew a small Cessna plane her first time flying, her love grew as she realized she would want to pursue flying at the Air Force Prep School.
Stufft has taken three flights total, each having a duration of approximately one hour. Stufft explains that she was especially nervous before her second flight when there was a lot of wind. Even with the instructor always there, almost everything was in her control.
“It’s almost like driving a car. The hardest thing is taxiing for some reason,” Stufft said.
She explained how the most difficult part for her is taking off and landing. Piloting actually made her less nervous about flying, as she understood how safe and easy it is to maneuver the plane.
When Stufft is not playing basketball or flying planes, she participates in Girl Scouts and is President of the Foreign Service Youth Club, amongst other things.
“There are people at our school that are really, really intellectual when it comes to academics, it’s a big stressor here, so I think being able to be great at other things and then allowing myself to focus on a school that’s really good at academics is good,” Nora said.
Stufft is excited about this new chapter in her life and is eager to see where the Air Force Prep Academy leads her.
