For Meridian junior Chloe Calabrese, “simple” and “easy” are not common in her everyday vocabulary.

Calabrese has a never-ending to-do list, filled with assignments from many of Meridian’s rigorous IB classes, various sports practices, and plenty of extracurricular initiatives. As a member of the SCA Executive Board, GIVE Day, Spanish Club, Mustang Ambassadors, Cyber Patriots, and “you know, the random club here or there,” she can sometimes feel overwhelmed by her academic and non-academic activities.

“It definitely is stressful,” Calabrese said. “I keep a running color-coded to-do list, which is my favorite thing ever.”

Fellow junior Jill Mankofsky, who overheard Calabrese explaining her rainbow-ordered list, immediately commented, “That’s so Chloe.”

Indeed, she believes that organization is essential to getting through the day. “Staying organized is really the only way that it works,” she said. “[Homework] tends to be a lot – some days I procrastinate more than others, but I’ll always try to be organized in the tasks that I have to do.”

So, why would she subject herself to such a packed schedule?

“The people,” Calabrese responded. “That’s really the thing that draws me back. All of these activities allow me to do things I like, but honestly I just love to spend time with my friends and people I wouldn’t normally interact with.”

Whether it’s field hockey, track, GIVE Day, SCA, or any other of her multitude of activities, she says her main motivation is the community she gets to be a part of.

“I think we have such a great community,” she said. “I do all these activities because I like to spend time with the people. That’s the biggest thing.”

Chloe not only derives joy from seeing her classmates and friends in school activities, but also takes pride in the hard work she does, especially with SCA and GIVE Day.

“In the fall we had a really successful pep rally that was a lot of fun,” Chloe said. “Even with some events having to be outside, [there are] just a lot of things we’re able to do to put on programming for everyone, and it’s a lot of fun.”

Additionally, her position as a GIVE Day Executive Board member has always been a gratifying experience. Despite the pandemic, GIVE Day has still partnered with many non-profit organizations such as Cornerstones, World Central Kitchen, Martha’s Table, and Leveling the Playing Field to organize service drives, fundraisers, and events.

“In general, how we really come together as a community and have done so many different service projects is really cool,” Calabrese said. “With COVID last year, we couldn’t do everything, but we still managed to do a lot of drives and [fundraising].”

Outside of school, extracurriculars, and athletics, Chloe likes to spend time with her family – particularly her black lab, Holly. “[I] always have to walk my dog first; she comes first,” Chloe said. “She’s always crazy as soon as I walk in the door.”

She also enjoys baking for her family for the holidays, particularly pie. “It’s a good time, not having to think about anything related to school,” Chloe said. Sometimes she’ll just try to make up a recipe herself, which, according to her, “sometimes works.”

Her life is nothing short of hectic, but Chloe has learned to embrace the mayhem. She enjoys that there’s never a dull moment in her life.

“Especially at Meridian, we have a lot of chaos in our lives, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing,” she said. “I like having 20 million things going on at once. There’s always a lot to think about and do.”