Zoie is a maker of beautiful things. For one of her proudest accomplishments, her tenth grade Personal Project, Zoie studied African American fashion designers, pieced Youtube videos together to teach herself sewing, and then pieced fabric together to make beautiful clothing. A near life-long student of violin, Zoie sews seemingly melancholic notes together to make classical music into a soothing space for herself to rest amid the stress of the pandemic. Through learning the culture and movements of Step, she sewed footsteps together to make dance, and sewed friends together into collaborators. She made a space where “I was able to let my happy spirit go free through dance...”

Zoie sewed once-new words together to make a whole second language for herself and then she wove that new language into a cultural bridge between herself and the world. “After having studied Chinese since Kindergarten, I have been able to stand on the Great Wall of China and say how beautiful the land is in that native language... I recall being in China in 5th grade for the first time and I was in a shoe store with my mom. My mom didn’t know how to communicate with the store clerk so I went to work. It was scary and exciting at the same time, being the one having to take charge for my mom. I walked over to the clerk and the Chinese words started to flow out of my mouth. The clerk smiled. My mom smiled. And then I smiled because I knew I was successful at bridging the communication gap between the two of them. I was so happy and my confidence skyrocketed at that moment. Seeing the look of pride on my mom’s face was the best feeling ever. I will never forget the beautiful feeling inside of me that day.”

Zoie sewed the life experiences of herself and others, both the beautiful and the tragic, into the steady purpose of her own journey. Amid the swirl and chaos of our national reckonings on COVID-19, police brutality, racism, unemployment and other injustices, even in these massive, turbulent waves, Zoie pulled at the threads of these difficult life experiences and deliberately wove them together into the steady purpose of her own life. Even in her delights, like watching anime, Zoie looks deeper and sees the stories of real life issues that resonate with her. Through this most unique of senior years, Zoe has worked to sew the moral fibers that she will use to sustain herself. Zoie has chosen, time and time again, to continually make peace and beauty and empathy within what she knows is the inevitable tumult of life. “I understand that challenges will always be apart of life and I believe that times like these help me to build strength and character that will sustain me.”

As Zoie prepares to take her next steps after high school, we know she is both eager and prepared to weave her own paths. Zoie will illuminate her journeys with her many passions, and her eye and ear for beauty and connection, and we as a world will all be better off for it. We wish you all the very best, Zoie, as you make your way. And we are grateful to be witness to it.