The understanding of resilience from “Johnny Got His Gun.” The moment of taming the fox from “The Little Prince.” These moments in literature influence and shape who Jessica Wang (’25) is. From each piece of literature she reads and digests, she grows to navigate her life through the lens of books. 

“Reading all these books of all these people who are so vastly different from me and everything I’ve ever experienced has helped me,” Jessica said. “Every book I read, I take in a piece of that character for myself, like that saying, ‘You are a mosaic of everyone you’ve ever known.’ I carry a part of the characters with me.”

Beyond just the characters, Jessica enjoys deducing aspects of the author’s personal journey from their writing.

“When an author writes a book, the author puts a piece of themselves into that book,” Jessica said. “I don’t think you can write a novel or even a short story and edit it and then put it out into the world without it reflecting to some extent who you are as a person. Maybe not even who you are, but who you aspire to be as an author.”

Through these different perspectives, Jessica gains a more grounded understanding of the world and the people around her. To her, those experiences in books translate into real-life interactions with others.

“Whenever I read a book, I’m not reading it to learn about a new world, I’m reading it for the character that I’m learning the world through,” Jessica said. “I approach every single book like I’m meeting someone new.”

Just as she takes aspects of an author’s personality from her reading, she puts herself into her own writing, choosing personal topics and highly individualized experiences in her poems and short stories.

“I take a piece of me, a piece of this mix of all these things that I’ve encountered both in my real day-to-day life and in all the stories that I’ve read, and I’m able to take that and put it out back into the world and that is more of an escape,” Jessica said. “In reading, I discover who I want to be and when I write, I recognize who I actually am.”

Literature has always shaped Jessica’s life. From the first book she read with her mom, sounding out English words in a Winnie the Pooh book,  her childhood has been characterized by the books she reads. She loves to record those memories and impressions of books through Goodreads reviews. 

“Goodreads is like an archive of my thoughts at the moment of finishing this book because when I write those reviews, the book is still fresh in my mind,” Jessica said. “It’s almost like word vomiting whatever I’m thinking.”

Close friend sophomore Finley Ho loves to read Jessica’s Goodreads reviews, appreciating how Jessica’s humor in conversation also appears in her reviews.

“Her Goodreads reviews are really whimsical, and she shows that Jessica finds humor in many situations. She also has a lot of references and layers to their humor which makes it more fun to talk to her.”

Jessica focuses her writing on the nostalgia of relationships, reflecting upon those gained and lost. Throughout high school, her writing has expanded in scope but hasn’t left the original roots of her individual experience and motivations. 

“I believe that the first things you write are just pieces of who you are, and as you grow and develop as a writer, you’re able to better distill those points into your writing,” Jessica said. “I see writing as more of an escape than reading because I see writing as being able to take a part of me and put it out into the world.”

History teacher James Tate also recognized Jessica’s force of personality both inside and outside the classroom. When she hosted Catch-22 as their Recreate Reading book together, he noticed Jessica’s love for reading and enthusiasm in discussion.

“One thing that’s really great about Jessica is even when she’s tired, she brings really good energy,” Tate said. “She’s talking a lot about the current events and things that are going on campus and things that are going on in politics and just like there’s a lot of Joie de vivre. Even though Jessica might not put it that way, there’s a lot of embracing life and being in the flow of things.”

Close friend Melody Yin (’25) watched Jessica’s growth as a writer, having read many of her first short stories. For her, the stories felt poignant, and their real-life connections so clear. She remembers being moved to tears when first reading one of Jessica’s stories. 

“The first time that I read that short story about the stars, I cried,” Melody said. “It’s just so beautiful that she’s able to translate parts of their life into something that is so beautiful and something that connects with the readers so well because you know that it’s coming from her own experiences.”

Jessica believes that the same focus and absorption in writing and reading correspond to her love for reinvigorating thrifted clothes. It’s vital to immerse yourself in reading and writing in order to fully take in the experience. In the same way, sewing thrifted clothing requires a level of attention and focus that brings her away from the daily monotony of school work. 

“Jessica is so outgoing and artistic and unafraid of expressing herself, so thrifting — customizing clothes to fit her personality — suits her so well,” Melody said. “She spends a lot of time on Depop and in thrift stores looking into each piece of clothing she buys and thinking about how she can remake clothing into something that fits their fashion sensibilities.”

When writing short stories, Jessica begins with a vision of metaphors she wants to include or certain structures she is emphasizing. In the same way, Jessica brainstorms ideas for a finished product in thrifted clothes. 

“A lot of the time it’s not an easy one step process,” Jessica said. “I pleated the folds for an hour and then realized I made them too big, undid all the pleats and then did it all over again for another hour. Just struggling through this process, struggling through finding which words fit into the sentence the most smoothly here, finding the kind of stitch I need to use for this particular part, it’s just the process that makes the reward.”