Student Athlete of the Week Margaux Boyer

On the soccer pitch, in the classroom, and around the community, Margaux Boyer has accomplished plenty throughout her four years at Niwot High School.

A senior captain on the NHS girls soccer team, Boyer is enjoying arguably her best season yet for the 7-3-2 Cougars. The fourth-year varsity defender has contributed a career-high 12 points, including three goals, this spring, with three regular season games still remaining.

"It's been great," Boyer said. "The girls are so nice and we're all friends. We're an actual team. The competition is there; everybody that's there wants to be there, and has worked to be there. It's competitive, but it's fun."

April, in particular, has been a productive month for Boyer. Two days after scoring two clutch goals in Niwot's 3-2 win over Frederick High School on Thursday, April 18, the senior assisted freshman Mirjam Bos' game-winning goal against Grand Junction Central High School.

That assist showed up in the stat book, but Boyer has been helping her younger teammates thrive on and off the field all season. Working alongside fellow captain Paige Russell, Boyer takes great pride in her leadership abilities.

"As a captain, I want to be able to help," Boyer said. "Being able to sit down and just listen to a person helps them get out of whatever rut they're in... These people are my friends. I want to make sure that they are feeling good all the time. Sometimes when you're stuck, you just need to talk."

Boyer added that last year's captain, the now-graduated Caroline Tusek, provided the template for how she approaches being a leader.

As with all good things, Boyer's Niwot soccer career will soon conclude. She hopes to enjoy these final days playing alongside her younger sister, sophomore Eleanor Boyer, and her other Niwot teammates.

"Sometimes, I get so driven into winning that I think for me, I've got to take a step back and just soak it in," Boyer said. "You just got to enjoy it because no more am I going to be able to be like, 'Alright, well, I gotta go play for Niwot now,'... I'm never gonna wear a Niwot jersey again and step on that field. It's been four years and it went by so fast."

Last season, Niwot's varsity roster held three Boyers: Eleanor, Margaux, and then-senior Alexandria. Margaux, the middle child, said it was a "special" experience.

Margaux Boyer will soon receive both an NHS diploma and an International Baccalaureate (IB) diploma. Along with writing countless research papers for the IB classes she took, Boyer, who also works as a ski patroller, recently completed a service project in conjunction with IB's Creativity, Activity, Service (CAS) program. She baked a variety of pastries and donated them to local first responders, including nurses, firefighters, and others working in related fields. "I wanted to give back to them in any way I could," Boyer said.

This summer, she plans on training and coaching with Albion SC Boulder County, a local semi-pro soccer team. Then, in the fall, Boyer will begin studying neuroscience (pre-med track) at the University of Vermont. Wanting to move out of Colorado, she said UVM satisfied everything she was looking for in a college.

"I wanted to be able to ski - that's a big part of my life - I wanted to be able to play soccer, I wanted to be in nature and have access to hiking and biking, paddleboarding, backpacking, and all those things," Boyer said. "Vermont checked them all off."