Whiz Kid: Christine Zajac

Name: Christine Zajac

Age: 17

Grade: Senior

School:

Accomplishment: Zajac is a student council representative at Hinsdale South, and has been involved with Habitat for Humanity since her junior year. She has been a member of Operation Snowball since her freshman year, and as a senior is one of two team directors from Hinsdale South. She also currently works as an after-school nanny. 

Key to Awesomeness: Zajac's biggest commitment throughout high school has been to Operation Snowball, a club that works to help students make positive relationships with other people that don't involve drugs and alcohol. One of Zajac's responsibilities as an Operation Snowball leader is to work with the three other student team directors (one from Hinsdale South, two from Hinsdale Central) to plan Snowball's biannual retreats. The most recent retreat, which took place last week, was Operation Snowball's biggest yet, with over 200 students from both District 86 high schools attending. Zajac and her other leaders actually had to turn interested students away for lack of room, but Zajac hopes that those students will come back for the second retreat of the year in February. "The retreat is always really fun," Zajac said. "It lets us get to know other people from Hinsdale Central and [even from Hinsdale South] that we've never really talked to before. Every year [that I've been involved], the attendance has gone up." 

Zajac and her fellow student leaders (eight adult directors from the two schools also help with the retreat) were responsible for organizing the event. "I call it a 'man-behind-the-curtain' kind of thing," Zajac said of her responsibilities within the club. Zajac and the other leaders also interview students to be on the Snowball staff and provide them with leadership training. "What I like about Operation Snowball is that it's teens leading teens," Zajac said. "Snowball is different. Adults come [to the retreat] too, and we get to see our teachers in a different light and see them as people." 

Zajac has enjoyed helping other students get the most out of Operation Snowball. "It's not only [about] being how we are at Snowball, but taking what we've learned at Snowball and bringing it back to school," she said. "There's a focus on being good people and being nice." 

What’s Next: Zajac has applied to eight colleges, but she's still deciding where she would like to go next year. "I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I want to do," Zajac said, adding that she's not sure if she wants to live in downtown Chicago or live on campus at a school in another state. She has applied to the University of Illinois at Chicago, Loyola University Chicago, Benedictine University, and Dominican University. Zajac is also committed to working while she attends college, as she has in high school.