Sports, clubs, after-school events, extracurricular activities—you name it, she’s done it all.
Zoe Wittler came to Frederick High with a lot of talent and experience. She had been playing sports competitively since fifth grade, singing in choirs since eighth grade, and doing dance routines in front of audiences since she was three. Yet she still started high school a bit shy.
“I would say that at the beginning of high school, I was nervous like any other freshmen,” Zoe recounted. “This was a new building, a new environment, and I wanted to do well. It was also only my second year of public school since first grade. However, I think the transition was easier for me because I had my older brother [at Frederick High] and knew some of his friends.”
Zoe soon made her own friends, though, after she joined Frederick choirs and Frederick Theatre in the fall and later made it onto the girls basketball team for the school.
“I had been playing competitively and knew that I wanted to continue playing basketball through high school and to try and take it to college. I love how fast-paced basketball is. It makes it fun to play and, I think, fun to watch. Something is just always happening, and because of that, the outcome of a game can change really fast.”
Zoe quickly made a name for herself in Frederick Basketball. She became a Varsity point guard as a freshman, a position she’s held for all four years. Thanks in part to her efforts, Zoe and her team have made it to the playoffs the past three years.
“There’s close games, of course, but there’s also comebacks. As a player, that can be really scary at times, but it also makes it so fun. That there’s so many opportunities to make an impact on the game even if your shot is off that day. You could play excellent, disciplined defense and force turnovers. You could be getting rebounds, giving your team more offensive opportunities. You could be getting assists.
“The list keeps going. I love that because, instead of your performance solely being based on whether the ball goes in the basket, players can always make a positive, and sometimes crucial, impact.”
Zoe feels the same way about one of her other high school passions, theatre.
“I love dancing and performing. That all started because my mom and aunt own a dance studio, Legacy School of Dance, so I grew up dancing and performing. I joined [Frederick] Theater because of my brother Micah.”
Her brother was a true inspiration for Zoe, as he was on both Frederick’s Varsity boys basketball team and acted onstage in lead roles; in fact, his junior year performance in The Music Man earned him a nomination for the Bobby G Award, a statewide award for high school theatre productions.
I was pretty hesitant at first because I didn’t know what I thought about singing in front of people, and I wasn’t used to people seeing me outside of sports. Usually the sports world and performing arts world don’t intermix. But my brother was successfully doing both basketball and theater, and that gave me the courage to try it.
“My favorite production I have done would have to be The Music Man my freshman year. Not only did we have high-level performers that made the show really good, but three of my younger siblings were [in the cast] too, so that made it extra special.”
While she found a welcoming group of friends in the Frederick performing arts, ultimatly basketball has unlocked Zoe’s future. This fall, she earned a partial scholarship to Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, Oklahoma.
“I want to study psychology, and I eventually want to work with kids in foster care,” she said. A
She hopes that, like how her brother inspired her, her example will inspire future students at Frederick High to try a variety of activities instead of staying in one lane. According to Zoe, fear that you won’t succeed doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take the shot, as part of the fun is all the people you meet.
“I love my teammates and how hard they work… and the [theatre students] were so welcoming and friendly that they became the people I spent most of my time with. Like, how I said players on a team can always make a positive impact even if they miss the shot? It’s the others who are playing with you that keep you in that positive mindset.
“Then, obviously, if your shot is going in, it makes it all the better.”
