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Vivacious volunteer

Marietta grad uses talents in community

By Douglass Huxley 3 min read

Chloe Chen is a recent graduate of Marietta High School where she was the center defender, senior team captain and was named Second Team All-District as a member of the school's soccer team.

"I've played soccer all my life," Chen said. "I started when I was 4, and I've gone all the way through with playing varsity in high school. … This year, we made it the farthest that we've made it in 10 years."

Chen also received her associate's degree from Washington State Community College and will continue her academic and athletic career at Lake Erie College in the fall.

She plans to study psychology and continue on to medical school after that.

"I feel like it's all about the communication aspect," Chen said. "I want to learn how to communicate with someone that has dementia or how to calm someone down that has an anxiety attack or depression, or anything like that. I want to learn how I can help them and hopefully help them become better, or more relaxed."

Chen is an avid volunteer within the community and looks to help others any chance she can.

"I love volunteering," Chen said. "Giving back to the community is one of the most important things to me."

She has volunteered at Marietta Memorial Hospital, where she would spend four days a week over the summer, was a 4-H camp counselor and spent many years with Safetytown, where she was named the 2022 Safetytown scholarship winner.

"With Safetytown, you have to take it seriously because you have these kids in your hands and you're teaching them how to cross the street correctly, or stranger danger, or anything like that," Chen said. " Those are lessons people use throughout their lives."

When she's not giving her time to others, Chen enjoys hanging out with her family and neighbors playing backyard volleyball, "We get competitive," she said.

Chen is also a self-proclaimed nerd who enjoys reading.

She's reading a psychology book on how to communicate and bond with people of different personality types and rereading the fourth Harry Potter book, a series of which she is a big fan.

In the world of Harry Potter, students are placed by a sorting hat into four separate houses based on their characteristics.

The house of Gryffindor consist of students who possess characteristics such as courage, chivalry, nerve, bravery and determination. Chen is indeed a Gryffindor.

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