Alumni Spotlight: Luke Nowak

In this alumni spotlight, Luke reflects on how years of careful reading, narration, and immersion in living books at Ambleside shaped his approach to learning and continue to influence the way he reads, studies, and thinks today.

Luke as Cassius in The Heights spring performance of Julius Caesar.

By the time Luke Nowak reached high school—and later, college—he was already comfortable with demanding books. He was used to reading not just fluently, but attentively. That habit was formed early, through years of living books and pages of narrations at Ambleside, and it continues to shape his life as a freshman at Grove City College.

Luke graduated from Ambleside in 2021 after completing first through eighth grades. Looking back, he sees a clear connection between those years and his readiness for what came next. His Ambleside education, he says, prepared him “for thoughtful and deep reading, delving into the more important meanings of the text and its messages.” College-level reading hasn’t felt new or foreign; it feels familiar.

Literature stands out as one of the most meaningful parts of his Ambleside school day. “I still remember the words Carry On, Mr. Bowditch and the story of To Kill a Mockingbird like it was yesterday,” he shared, remembering the way reading slowed him down and trained his attention. “Those times reading aloud in school gave me great peace and tranquility.”

That feeling has stayed with him. He credits Ambleside with teaching him “the power of narration and the value of reading the text over and over until properly understood,” a skill he continues to rely on in college.

Luke in 4th Grade at the Shakespeare Festival.

Of all his experiences at Ambleside, trips to Washington, D.C., and the National Gallery of Art stand out as highlights. And like many of our graduates, nature study created a lasting love of the outdoors. He fondly remembers collecting plants outdoors and then returning to study and paint them—slowing down long enough to really see what he had gathered.

Now living on campus as a freshman at Grove City College, Luke reflects on Ambleside not just as an academic foundation, but as a refuge where he learned more about himself, how to serve others, and what it means to worship and honor the Lord.