Chloe Zimmerman, Naselle High School valedictorian

 

Diana Zimmerman

Chloe Zimmerman is the valedictorian for Naselle Grays River Valley High School's Class of 2015.

This young woman with a keen mind and a love for books will attend Yale in the fall. Eventually, she plans to return to Seattle to attend the University of Washington to study Library Science.

She is thrilled to be attending Yale, which she proudly admits has a 7 percent admittance rate. It was while visiting the school in New Haven, Conn., and another school back east, that she finally knew.

"It had more of the community I was looking for," Zimmerman said, "and a group of students I felt I could fit in with and do well with and learn a lot from. That was the tipping factor.

"It helps that they have amazing libraries," she admitted. "They have the Beinecke Rare Books and Manuscript Library. I want to work as a rare book librarian, so that is the most amazing place I could imagine having at my disposal during college.

"I've always been interested in reading and books," she continued. "My grandpa, who died when I was four, left behind his library of rare antique old books. He had a copy of the Gutenberg Bible that I loved to look through. I've always liked libraries and everything in academia. Being a librarian is a field where I can constantly learn more. If you want to know anything, it's going to help you in your job. Everything kind of converged there for me."

She cites her mother for her love of learning.

"My mom is my favorite teacher," Zimmerman said. "She always taught me to do my best and be my best. She taught us to master material, which has been a great help. Having such a good foundation, knowing the concepts in middle school and elementary school has carried over to high school."

Zimmerman was homeschooled until high school, which she decided to attend for more social reasons.

"You are socialized when you are homeschooled, but the problem is that your friends are in school all day and then come home and do homework. School was an easy way to have a common ground."

Common ground perhaps, but she's gone her own path some of the way. She took an independent study on Shakespeare's comedies and sonnets her sophomore year and started Algebra II with her classmates, only to find herself 40 lessons ahead halfway through the semester. She went ahead and finished the course that semester and took Advanced Math by herself the second semester. Now she's taking Latin independently and finishing an online AP Calculus course.

"I've done some unorthodox things in terms of schooling," Zimmerman laughed. "I'm kind of a challenge for Mr. Laine to place in classes. He's been really good about getting me classes I need or want."

Zimmerman was in the play this year and has been involved in drama since seventh grade. She also competes on the Knowledge Bowl with her "nerdy friends" and tried cross country for a couple years. She is president of the Honor Society and the ASB treasurer, acting as auditor her junior year.

She volunteers at libraries when she has time and has been on a couple mission trips through Global Expeditions, a Christian organization based in Texas. The first time, she went to Mexico as a freshman and helped build houses. She flew to Oklahoma after the 2013 tornado in Moore, OK, to assist with tornado relief.

"We would report to a woman in the community who would tell us our assignment for the day," Zimmerman said. "We helped clean up fields so people could make hay and actually have income that year. We helped tear down houses and other minor jobs that needed to be done."

This summer she will head to Yale for a summer program for freshman scholars. Zimmerman is one of 48 students selected for the five week visit which is designed to help them transition to college life in the fall.

Chloe is the daughter of April and Thomas Zimmerman.

 

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