Hillary Zhong- Epitome of Quirkiness, Fun, and Sincerity
Hillary Zhong is new to the 9th grade, but not to SMIC or the students here. She was enrolled in first grade in Chinese track, and to this day a carbon copy of her wide-eyed, poised face is immortalized in the library’s 2011 yearbook. A few students have climbed up the grades with her, though none are found in the same homeroom with her. She transferred to TAS (Transformation Academy Shanghai) in elementary school, and a few more of her old classmates came along, like a little reunion. Her best friend from TAS, Rita, says her favorite memory with her is “Doing [a] bio project with her” or simply “just chat[ting] with her.” Now, they have different expressions, different hairstyles, and clothing, but also what couldn’t be seen from the pictures: personalities.
Now she is a highly amusing person, breaking quick smiles, highly trustworthy and friendly, sporting a hoodie. She doesn’t look like she is startled or searching for something, though she is sometimes caught staring off into space. Publicly, she is known for laughing loudly, being shameless, effortlessly lugging her wheeled backpack down the hallway. Privately, she is a vicious eater of ice cream cones, loves to play Plants Vs. Zombies, and can finish half a glass of Snapple in a swallow. She doesn’t hide much, and her vivaciousness is instantaneously likable. The only time she loses her cool is when forced to endure too-long episodes of My Little Pony or being around her brother.
She’s also an eager artist, sometimes doodling, turning simple pieces of canvas into beautiful gifts, and suffering away in Art and Creativity. Often she draws cats, her favorite (and very possibly spirit) animal, always overly cute as she turns them into wicked “Santa Claws” or a part of some vaguely horrific scene. She has her own brownish-ginger cat, Orange, coming into old age, content with warmth and cuddling. The most interesting thing she has done, and her favorite work of art, is a painting of her cat beside a large cake. Other than cats, she is a staunch advocate against zoos, roadside shows, and animal cruelty. Her other best friend, who followed with the same track from CT to TAS to SMIC-I, Daisy, likes to recall when “back in 6 grade in the lunch break we would walk together [a]way from the crowd and talk about animals, [and] actually was she teaching me stuff [about] animals.” Hillary is also an avid player of horror games, sans demonic ones, and has some Five Nights of Freddy characters as her wallpaper, except they are in such an adorable version they are difficult to recognize.
Hillary says that if she was alone in the world, she would live with her cat and farm vegetables, despite her dislike of having to eat them, and possibly “catch some animals and breed them.” Though she has not been in SMIC-I for long, she has certainly made an impression with all her quirks and hobbies and humor.
Featured Image- “Cake and Orange” Photo courtesy of Hillary Zhong