Singing and laughter permeate through the hallway as a group of friends stop by their lockers. One day they’re playing “Gone Girl” by SZA, and another day it’s “A Whole New World” from the Aladdin soundtrack, but the one singing along is Claire Miao (12). The first one to start singing and the one who keeps the chorus aflame, her bubbly and animated personality allows constant laughter to persist in the halls, a testament to her love for community building. 

Through her leadership, Claire maintains strong connections and relationships with the people around her. Whether it be with off-handed jokes or spontaneous bursts of song, she ensures the environment around her is spirited and lively. 

“She’s an enjoyable person to talk to. As one of my closest friends, I feel like I can tell her anything,” close friend Jack Shen (12) said, having met Claire in ninth grade. “That’s the biggest thing. She’s like this with everyone and it’s easy to tell.” 

Captain of the basketball team, Claire carries her enthusiasm and energy to the sport as well, where teammates and underclassmen alike look to her for guidance. Her natural leadership qualities shine through as she continues to foster a collaborative and supportive environment, making Claire a respected figure among her peers. During practice, Claire takes on the responsibility of keeping morale high and training diligently. 

“In 11th grade, I really stepped into my role as captain of the basketball team,” Claire said. “I saw a lot of leadership qualities that I wanted to emulate within my own life. An example that pushed me to become better was in my sophomore year when the captains at the time would hold me accountable and push me during practice to focus during those two hours. From that, I’ve learned to focus on the task in front of me and give it my complete effort to reach that deadline or concrete end result.”

With a combination of assertiveness and amiability, Claire builds a tight-knit community on the court. Her leadership extends beyond the game, emphasizing the importance of unity and collaboration within the team dynamic.

“Since basketball is a team sport, you can’t only consider what’s best for you,” Claire said. “The central part I’ve learned from basketball is how can we, as a team, take everyone’s different skill sets, everyone’s different perspectives, and then put them into a winning formula.”

On and off the court, Claire keeps the opinions of others around her in mind. Assistant upper school head and Claire’s advisor Kelly Horan witnessed her progression from a quiet girl on Zoom during the pandemic to an outspoken captain now in her senior year, where Claire’s inclusive nature shines through.  

“I have seen her grow more comfortable with herself,” Horan said. “She goes into the world with a lot more confidence, but not arrogance; she’s comfortable in her role as a leader.”

Close friend and teammate Isabella Lo (11) participated in many games and training sessions alongside Claire and values her efforts in managing the team. In a particularly difficult match against Pinewood, the second-best team in the state, Isabella recognized Claire’s initiative and grit as captain.

“Their big defenders are strong,” Isabella said. “But Claire is just keen to attack and provide that sort of aggressive aspect. It helps us to see and follow that example in the game. If she’s attacking aggressively and playing tough defense, I think the whole team reflects that mentality. She sets the bar for us.”

Even in everyday moments, Claire dedicates herself to maintaining strong relationships with everyone on the team. Through these small yet impactful acts, her underclassmen feel welcomed and included.

“She’s helped the freshmen integrate into the team,” Isabella said. ”This year, there are four new freshmen on the team, and during practice, she’s always asking them, ‘Oh, how was your day? What’d you do today? How are your classes? How’s freshman year going?’ She always initiates a conversation for team bonding. She always puts the team first.”

Alongside basketball, Claire explores aspects of generative AI and natural language processing. She currently serves as treasurer of the AI club and reaches out to professionals in their respective fields to present at club meetings. Recently, members were able to showcase their AI work.

“It’s been really exciting seeing how passionate my underclassmen are about their stories and how each person has their niche about what kind of AI they like, but in the end, it’s just all created by the same language,” Claire said. “We can train a model on a data set, and then generate new ideas or topics from them.”

Among her other activities, Claire finds solace in cooking and gardening, both of which have taught her unforgettable life lessons. Despite having a change in pace from basketball, gardening provided her an opportunity to learn patience and the value of consistent effort. Although her first experiences with gardening only left her sunburnt, she found that the successes and failures in life mirror those in plants as well.

“When I was young, we planted strawberry plants and none of them sprouted, but the next year, we planted different seeds and all of them sprouted,” Claire said. “Gardening has taught me the importance of embracing the journey and knowing that it’s never going to be entirely successful. Failure is always inevitable, but you do have to put in hard work to get success.” 

With this mentality, Claire brings her best to everything, regardless of the outcomes that may come with it. Whether it be in basketball, AI club or anything in between, Claire strives to overcome each challenge without looking back, supporting her friends, peers and teammates along the way. 

“At the moment, it feels like a grand failure–not getting good scores on a test, not having my teacher round up my grade–but the reason that I don’t feel it’s a huge failure is because I have the mentality that failure is inevitable,” Claire said. “In basketball, even if you have a bad game or you have a bad turnover, it’s already written down. There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s about, ‘how can I balance the failures out with the successes so that it’s an overall net positive?’”