There is no doubt that this has been senior Alice Hall’s year. From getting into MIT to being named a Black Team General to shooting her one-thousandth point on HH’s varsity team, she is unstoppable! 

When searching for colleges, Alice intended on prioritizing school over basketball, but recently began to hope that she could continue playing. 

She said, “I was looking at schools that were of a high academic caliber but still Division III so I could focus on academics. MIT couldn’t give me an offer, so I got offers from other schools. MIT couldn’t confirm that I was admitted, so I had to wait until I got in early. After I went on my official visit, I decided I wanted to go to MIT. It felt like the perfect balance between academics and athletics.”

After waiting until December, Alice found out that she was accepted. “It felt amazing. I was so relieved because I only applied there. I would have time to apply elsewhere, but it was the only place I really wanted to go to. It was surreal, as I have been working to get to this point all my life,” she said. After years of hard work and determination, Alice feels like it has finally paid off. 

Aside from her MIT acceptance, Alice has made her one-thousandth point on the basketball team, a record unbroken since 2005. 

“Earning one-thousand points is the main milestone that people try to get in college and high school basketball. I didn’t think I was going to get it, but it started to seem more real when I got my five-hundredth point during my sophomore season. After COVID last year, I didn’t think it was going to happen. When I finally did it, I got a ton of support from my teammates and it was awesome to see how many people were at the game,” she said.

Alice commented on the support coming from her teammates this season and how, “I got a ton of support and everyone was counting this year, since I was getting close.” 

Her teammates noticed how close she was to breaking the record and kept score as to how far away she was. When the 1,000 points was reached, her friends rushed the court, carrying posters with pictures of her face on it to congratulate her on her success.

However, Alice has also faced challenges during her basketball career. 

Alice said, “The main struggle I have faced as far as basketball goes would have to be tearing my labrum in my shoulder. This happened in the second game of my high school career and has been something I carried with me ever since. My shoulder has subluxed at least thirty times because of it; that is a partial dislocation and is super painful. I had it surgically repaired prior to sophomore year and did physical therapy in order to be cleared to play that entire season, two months earlier than I was projected to be back. It continues to bother me, but with physical therapy, it is not as much of an issue and I think fighting through it has made me much stronger.”

As times grew tough for Alice, she stayed motivated. “My teammates both at the school and on my AAU team really motivated me to keep playing basketball because they make it fun. My grades have always been the most important thing to me and I just love pushing myself to do the best I can in school. I think my parents instilled that in me and for that, I am super grateful,” Alice said. 

Alice said she will most miss her friends and connections she made at Hatboro-Horsham. “I’ll miss seeing my friends everyday. Some I’ve been around since elementary school.” 

As for next year, Alice plans on majoring in chemical engineering and seeing where that takes her. “I’m so excited and think I’m going to have so much fun. I think this is the perfect path for me.”

In a word of advice to freshmen, Alice recommends working hard and trying new classes.

She said, “Go big. I feel like people sell themselves short too much, especially with signing up for classes. Senioritis is real, but if you put in the work early, you’ll get used to the work and you’ll have less work to do when you’re a senior. Don’t underestimate where you can go after high school.”