By Claire Stromseth
Staff Reporter
If there is one thing to know about senior Zoe Foose, it is her unapologetic love for animals. Whether it be volunteering at the local animal shelter or fostering numerous pets, Foose’s adoration for creatures displays a compassion that ties into almost every aspect of her life.
Foose radiates joy when speaking of the countless pets her family has fostered over the years.
“I’m sure I’ll come home with [a new foster pet] tomorrow,” Foose said.
Much like the way in which she makes her fostered animals feel at home, Foose is eager to direct that same welcoming energy towards The Sentry’s new faces. As one of this year’s copy editors, Foose has the responsibility of reviewing everyone’s work. Through getting to know the staff by reading and editing articles, she is keen on cultivating the “typical family environment” The Sentry has had in the past.
“I’m looking forward to getting to know everyone. I know we have a lot of new talented writers, so I’m excited to see what we can produce,” Foose said.
The Sentry is not the only place in which Foose is challenging herself. Along with her extensive list of intensified and Advanced Placement courses in school, she fills her free time with passions such as soccer and horseback riding. Her athleticism and enjoyment of writing overlap.
“When it comes to The Sentry, I am definitely most interested in writing about sports…. My family is super athletic and sports have always been my outlet, so I find it easiest to write about something that I’m passionate about,” Foose said.
The sport that she highlights as her greatest prevailing passion is horseback riding. Through this outlet, Foose displays more than just her drive.
“It’s not only about the competition results that I get, but also the connection I can form with the horse. In a way, it’s like therapy for me. The second I drive down the driveway to the barn I kind of forget about everything else going on because the horse can sense when you’re nervous or upset and they kind of feed into that,” Foose said.
Once again, Foose’s benevolence shines through. Thoughtfulness and resilience are traits she is proud of and are qualities she gained from having incredibly strong role models in her life. Foose explains her biggest role model is her mother.
“My mom … has early onset Alzheimers, but through this whole thing she has remained her kind and careful and selfless person. She’s just been so caring with everyone and has never dropped that part of her even though she is losing pretty much everything else about her,” Foose said.
Foose’s experience with her mother has given her a clarifying insight into life. She pledges to herself to “live like there’s no tomorrow.”
“I know that time is limited with specific people, and you never really know what could happen, so you kind of just have to live in the moment,” Foose said.
Foose is increasingly applying this ideology to her life as she begins her final year of high school. Attending our school’s senior breakfast and football games are only some of the activities she has partaken in to make the best of her senior year. While Foose mostly succeeds in her attempt to live in the now, it is difficult for anyone to not dwell on the pandemic that robbed teenagers of normalcy in the transition from youth to adulthood. Like many other 2022 graduates, Foose had a hard time adjusting to the pandemic lifestyle. Despite the hardships brought upon by COVID-19, Foose continued to work hard and is elated to see her devotion paying off. Confident in how she has set herself up for her future, Foose beams as she goes on about the freedom of college and escaping the Arlington bubble.
“I’m looking forward to meeting new people and for new experiences.… I feel like living in Arlington County gets old. I’ve lived here my entire life, so it feels like every day is kind of the same and ties into each other. I’m looking forward to shaking it up a little bit,” Foose said.
For Foose, “shaking it up” implies challenging herself in new ways. She plans on following in her mother’s footsteps by furthering her diligence and empathy on a path towards a law career in the justice system. The Sentry is proud to have a member who applies a selfless work ethic to various areas of her life.
By Zoe Foose
Copy Editor
Despite the fact that she is new to The Sentry family, junior Claire Stromseth shows great potential as a reporter. With experience in numerous influential clubs, including Young Democrats and our school’s equity team, Stromseth is well informed and ready to educate fellow students through her creative yet factual writing.
Through her work on the curriculum committee of the equity team and her newly acquired voice in The Sentry, Stromseth hopes to modernize the current Eurocentric lens that is portrayed in history lessons taught across the county. Her passion for diversity and inclusion is undeniable and she feels as though she could present a detailed lecture on the topic.
“This kind of goes back to what I’m doing on the equity team with diversifying curriculum in American public schools. Just kind of giving a 21st-century lens on the past history or issues that are now taught in a very white-washed way,” Stromseth said.
Don’t be fooled, Stromseth is not all work, no play and remains a city girl at heart. While Stromseth’s dream day includes taking a train into New York City to grab breakfast with family and explore the city with friends, a typical day in her life involves an after-school snack of carrots and hummus before tennis practice. After years of dedication to tennis, Stromseth, like many other junior athletes, is forced to consider whether to pursue her sport in college.
“I have put a lot of time into [tennis] but I don’t plan on being a student-athlete in college,” Stromseth said.
Aside from the athletic component of tennis, Stromseth describes how the connections she has made through the sport have positively affected her.
“I think that the friendships and the people I have met through tennis are a big part of who I am today and those friendships have helped me grow a lot so I’m happy about that,” Stromseth said.
When not on the court or in the classroom, you can find Stromseth listening to her favorite artist Phoebe Bridgers.
“My favorite music artist is Phoebe Bridgers because I like how she expresses her thoughts through her lyrics and I can relate to a lot of them. I think when I relate to music, I enjoy it more,” Stromseth said.
As an avid reader and Phoebe Bridgers enthusiast, it is not often that you find Stromseth without her phone and a novel in hand. After reading hundreds of novels over the years, there is one book that stands out to Stromseth.
“My favorite book is Normal People by Sally Rooney. I don’t love the way she writes or the punctuation she uses but I like how she talks about mental health and just the way she accesses thoughts and characters,” Stromseth said.
While Stromseth acknowledges that her phone and a good book are a necessity and always close by, she feels as though there is one more important item that she cannot live without; her passport. Without her passport, Stromseth would be unable to fulfill her dreams of traveling the world and would not be allowed to visit Asia, the place she called home for many years. Finally, her passport enabled her to travel to the United States where she eventually met her role model, Maren Stroup.
After idolizing political figures for many months, Stromseth came to the realization that it is more important to be influenced by those around her. In regards to her personal life, fellow Sentry member Maren Stroup was highlighted.
“I actually look up to Maren a lot. She’s very mature and she’s almost like a big sister in a way since she has guided me through a lot of things,” Stromseth said.
Though a lover of monkeys, one of the most foolish animals to walk this Earth, Stromseth is not to be underestimated. Calling Beijing home for the majority of her childhood and being born during the Chinese Year of the Monkey helped shape Stromseth into the hardworking, globalized and anxious person she describes herself as these days. The Sentry is over the moon to welcome Stromseth to the family.
