Inside the summer program’s popular Physiology for Athletic Performance class
July 23, 2025
The 83rd governor’s was part of the summer program’s New Hampshire Leadership Institute speaker series.
As a young attorney newly returned to her home state of New Hampshire to begin what she had imagined would be a career in private practice, Gov. Kelly Ayotte instead asked to work on a federal racketeering case that set her on the course to becoming a criminal prosecutor and the state’s first female attorney general. On Tuesday, July 15, she shared what it had meant to work on that case and to take a risk that set her on the path to becoming a United States senator and New Hampshire’s 83rd governor with students in the St. Paul’s School Advanced Studies Program (ASP). The governor’s visit was one in a series of presentations by Granite State leaders who came to campus as part of the ASP’s New Hampshire Leadership Institute, which brings individuals in senior positions to the summer program to share their work in fields ranging from health and public policy to sustainable energy, marketing and more.
“There are going to be moments in your life where you say to yourself, ‘am I ready for this? should I take this risk?’” Ayotte said. “And I’m telling you to do it, to believe in yourself and to take the risk and to try things and to push yourself even when you’re uncomfortable, because you may find your passion by doing that.”
Ayotte also invoked the idea of pursuing passions in her message to students about the opportunities afforded to those who stay in — or return to — New Hampshire. Noting that the ASP draws the state’s “best and brightest” public high school students, she said, “This is a state where you can take the talents, ability and intelligence you have and really make a difference with anything that you are passionate about. … And so as you think about the connections you are making today and throughout this program at St. Paul’s, you are in a position where the people you meet today could be the people you are working with tomorrow to build a better, brighter state for all of us.” Acknowledging that many of this summer’s 180 students will likely end up attending college outside of New Hampshire, Ayotte, a Nashua native who earned her undergraduate degree from Penn State and her J.D. from Villanova, added, “As you think about where you want to build your life and your career, and where the opportunities are, I can tell you there are amazing ones here. It’s a small community here in New Hampshire and you can make a tremendous difference.”
“There are going to be moments in your life where you say to yourself, ‘am I ready for this? should I take this risk?’ And I’m telling you to do it, to believe in yourself and to take the risk and to try things and to push yourself even when you’re uncomfortable, because you may find your passion by doing that.”
The ASP New Hampshire Leadership Institute was launched in 2020 as the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the development of virtual offerings to complement online-only major courses. Connecting leaders with students via video chats proved so popular that institute continued when the ASP’s in-person programming resumed in 2021. Advanced Studies Program Director Michelle Taffe ASP’85 says that nurturing the college-and-beyond leadership potential of ASP students is one of the summer program’s primary objectives.
“Making it possible for our students to hear from, and in many cases have genuine conversations with, these leaders is a great way to show them that they can be leaders of the future,” she says. “I am grateful to all of our speakers, and particularly to Governor Ayotte for making time in her busy schedule to engage with our students. I hope that they will carry her message about taking risks and following your passions with them from the ASP to wherever their talents and interests lead them next.”
This summer’s Leadership Institute also included visits by healthcare equity advocate Marie-Elizabeth Ramas, MD; public health expert Elizabeth Boucher; Clean Energy NH Executive Director Sam Evans-Brown ASP’03, Loon Mountain VP of Marketing Kevin Bell and Overcomers Refugee Services founder and executive director Clement Kigugu. Past visitors have included climate engineering science and policy expert adviser Jane Flegal ASP’04, Apple hardware engineer Kate Bergeron, Gov. Chris Sununu and U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.
