On November 19, 2025, Rachel Degutz, a former middle school science teacher and now an American Ninja Warrior competitor, surprised the NAHS students with an inspirational assembly. She was born in East Brunswick, New Jersey, and went to Rutgers University, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and later a Master’s degree in Education. “My coaches would always say that I was good at every sport” is the advice that inspired her. She took a break from sports when she started college; however, she discovered a ninja training obstacle-course gym near her home, and after a year of contemplation, she decided to test her potential.
Rachel attended lessons and took advice from other athletes to be the strongest she could be, and she started setting her path to compete on the hit show American Ninja Warrior (ANW). After much training and perseverance, she was accepted in 2021 as a competitor for the 13th season. With her educational background and influential story, Degutz now visits schools including North Arlington High School to encourage youngsters.
Furthermore, the ANW is a reality show in which many athletes compete in upper-body strength obstacles to win $1,000,000. While the prize is quite a good incentive, Degutz’s only goal was to hit the buzzer signifying successful completion of the course. Yet, as much as she trained and competed, she would still plummet and lose on her final obstacle course. Nevertheless, she would not accept defeat, nor was she afraid to show her failures. For instance, as the assembly went on, she played videos of herself meeting embarrassing falls as her grips loosened and she hit the water under the obstacles. With this, she wanted to emphasize how the lack of success is acceptable as long as one re-attempts and does not cower before it. As time went by, she would come back to the show, no longer an inexperienced rookie, and would persist in winning. With this mindset, she hit her first buzzer in 2023 when racing against her friend, Abby Clark.
Today, she uses her story to convince students all across the nation not to give up the fight and pursue their ambitions. Her story was incredibly inspirational to all NAHS students! Students were impressed by her presence and they will certainly remember her as she competes in another ANW season.