This year at Seabury we welcome Ayelle Walters all the way from down the road. She says, “Before [Seabury] I went to Raintree [Montessori] for most of my schooling, but two years ago I was in the Czech Republic because my dad got a research job there. So I went to school there.” While Walters enjoyed her time in the Czech Republic, she says, “I was pretty isolated just because no one spoke English at my school. I was the first foreigner pretty much ever to go there, so I had to learn Czech.”
The reason Ayelle is now a Seahawk is because “this school just actually looked really kind of amazing.” Walters says, “[Seabury] had such a great art room and I really love art, and the English classroom alone just made me love it … [Seabury’s] awesome … just the community itself. It’s so accepting and inclusive of everybody. It really makes me feel like I’m at home.”
So far, she is definitely embracing the community. She says, “I’m doing the play and I think I might do a couple art classes at The Lawrence Art Center … I did volleyball last semester and the play, and this semester I’m doing the play, and I’m not sure if I’ll do a spring sport yet … I [played] soccer for a couple of years so I’m considering it.”
Back home, Walters has no time for rest or even reading. She even says, “I wouldn’t call reading a hobby; I’d call it a full time occupation. I literally have an entire wall of books in my room, [and] I’m not entirely sure [that] I’m gonna be able to read them all … I just finished reading ‘Soulswift.’ It’s a mostly clean Y/A novel. The messages it brings up about feminism are really important. And I don’t wanna give any spoilers, but both main characters die at the end! Hopefully no one was planning on reading ‘Soulswift.’”
Speaking of back home, it seems Walters is often anywhere but there: “I’ve been to China, Mexico, Greece, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Austria, Scotland, Ireland, England and a couple more I can’t remember,” she says. When recalling a memory from one of her favorite travel destinations, Walter says, “Mexico City, I was four so I don’t really remember it that well. It was during Christmas, … and we went to a Midnight Mass. They gave me a bag of candy maybe a foot tall. And little four year old Ayelle was just literally leaping around the rest of the night. I’m sure my parents loved that.”
The energy four-year-old Walters had has not gone away one bit. Make sure to say, “Hi,” to this vibrant soul!
