In today’s episode of This Hits Different, Shelby Cassesse tells the story of Carmichaels senior Sophia Zalar, a standout athlete with a passion for the environment and helping others.
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Coming from Greene County, Carmichaels senior Sophia Zalar has always been an outdoor girl.
“I would always be outside, playing in the dirt and trees, swimming lakes, all that kind of stuff that little kids did,” she says. “I just always had this connection with nature.”
But as she got older, she realized nature could be not only a place to play, but also a place to learn.
“I was just so fascinated, like ‘oh my goodness,’” she says. “As early as freshman year, I could be already be learning about wildlife and animals, and kind of getting my toes wet on what that could be.”
Along with being a four-year letterwinner in basketball and softball and a two-year letterwinner in volleyball, Sophia got involved early in environmental initiatives.
“Anything to do with aquatics, wildlife, forestry, soils, current issues,” she says. “This year we’re learning about climate change.”
She's a Top 10 finisher in Envirothon, a trout stocking volunteer, planting, building bird boxes, all setting in motion a future as a veterinarian.
“This is just a good introduction to see if I’m still passionate about what I went to go to college for,” Sophia says. “Sure enough, I’m still going to go on that way to be a vet one day.”
But Sophia isn't spending all of her time in the gym or outdoors or even in the classroom, she's also spending it inside an ambulance. She's training to be an EMT through Carmichael's program, something she hopes to continue doing through college.
“I like being in the action of things,” she says. “ like being very active, on my feet and move, and try to get my hands on things and help as much as I can.”
As she prepares to graduate 1st in her class, Sophia was named a WPIAL 2023 James Collins Scholar-Athlete Award Winner. It's an award that recognizes the best and brightest in WPIAL sports, and a group the she says shows the world is in good hands with the next generation.
“It just warms my heart just knowing that we’re 18 year olds going out there and we’re going to do great things in the world,” she says. “I just can’t wait.”