Hello! My name is Nyah McKinney. I play at West Orange High School where I was ranked Top 100 Freshman in the state of NJ on NJ.com for the 2022 season. I earned awards for the NJGILL Colonial South First Team All League and All Academic Team. I was a first year freshman varsity starter where I became the third top shooter with 25 goals, accumulated the third most points, 31, and accumulated the third most ground balls of 31 for the West Orange HS 2022 season. In 5th grade, I started lacrosse where I made the best decision of my life. I have a huge passion for this sport as I dedicate each day to getting better and improving my skill. I am a huge competitor as I want to see my teams go home with a victory. As seen by my stats, I have a tenacious drive to goal on the attacking end. On the defensive end, where my strengths lie, I am a loud, commutative, active, team defender ready to protect the cage with my good body-positioning and steal possession from my opponent. I do not make it easy for my opponent to drive near cage with my attentive lax IQ. Across the field, I have an awareness to see my teammate and make the pass. I'm always transitioning the ball up the field.

I am a multi-sport athlete going two years on the West Orange HS JV Cheerleading squad and the 2022 JV cheer captain with my 12 years as a cheerleader.

As a well-rounded student-athlete, I am an honor roll student who challenges myself with five of seven honors courses and my english and history class being apart of the Institute of Humanities (IH) honors program. I am currently the class of 2025 Vice President with my 6 years-experience in student council participating in leadership conferences and community service events. I am a first-year staff member of my high school’s newspaper The Pioneer where I am the In Our School/In Our Town Section Editor. I am also an active member of my school’s Unity Club, Black Student Union, French Club, and Junior States of America (JSA) clubs. I am also a co-founder of self-made dance crew, ELIXAR, where we perform for school/town events such as AAPI and Hispanic Heritage month.