Imari Nkenge-Hinds has two great loves: soccer and travel. He has turned those passions into his career. Since graduating from UNC-Wilmington in 2013, Imari has lived in Portugal and most recently in India, coaching soccer. He is currently studying High Performance Training (Treino de Alto Rendimento) at Faculdade de Desporto da Universidade do Porto (Porto, Portugal).
Imari entered Hill School as a seventh grader with, by his own admission, a chip on his shoulder. He did not want to be uprooted from his base school and spend half of his day somewhere else. That feeling changed quickly when he began to experience success in reading, writing and math. Moving to high school meant he could study Spanish and “things got to be fun.” The small classes, and caring teachers were memorable as well. Imari’s family included him in the decision each year to continue at Hill, and he was always positive about the opportunity.
While Imari loves learning and speaking new languages – he has added Portuguese, French, and Hindi – he credits Hill with his precision in English. “When you travel outside the US, it’s embarrassing if someone corrects your English!” Imari insists the confidence in his own abilities that he gained at Hill Learning Center has supported him in his many new and exciting adventures abroad.