Zoë Stoddard '27 wasn't supposed to make history at Siena. In fact, she wasn't supposed to be at Siena at all. But, the pandemic and a desire to always start the next chapter put her on the fast track to the record books.
Zoë will graduate this December with her bachelor's in communications. At only 18 years old, her Siena journey is ending just as it's beginning for everyone else her age. In less than three months, she'll be the second youngest graduate in Siena history, and the competitor in her can't help but rue the silver medal. But she was never racing to win; she was racing because she didn't want to stop.
In 2019, Zoë's family made the decision to move to Thailand. It was a wild, change of pace and circumstances idea inspired by friend, and they just decided to go for it. Zoë and her mom would travel to their new home first to get settled, and then Zoë's grandparents would follow. That July, Zoë got settled into her new, international school, with mainly Chinese students as classmates. Her mom took a job in an all-English school teaching math. By the following spring, they weren't sure Thailand was the permanent home they wanted. And when COVID hit, they had to make the call: stay or be stuck for who knows how long.
"Our flight from the Philippines was canceled. We flew from Bangkok to Tokyo to JFK. The last leg of the trip had 12 people on the plane. It was literally the last flight they let out."
The following school year was remote, so that was two consecutive years out of a traditional American classroom. And a year later, when everyone else went back in, Zoë elected to stay out.
"I was doing so well online, and I got used to it. So when I got to high school, we looked for other options."
Zoë enrolled in Acellus Academy, an accredited, online, asynchronous school. Students are able to work at their own pace, as long they complete their freshman year courses in under one year. Zoë had the opposite problem.
"I would do schoolwork all day, then ride my horse. But my friends were often tied up in their own school activities, so I'd just move on to the next chapter or the next course."
Zoë started to reach the end of 11th grade too quickly. You can't graduate from high school in New York until you're 16, and she was ahead of that pace. She didn't want to take time off, so she started enrolling in college courses through Post University. By the time Zoë was 16, she was a high school graduate and had accumulated 42 college credits.
In the fall of 2024, she was ready to step back inside a physical classroom for the first time in years. She considered heading south for college, but finding the right fit would matter more than anything else. And then she stepped on Siena's campus.
"From day one, the Siena community was so welcoming and so nice. I made a lot of friends; I've laughed a lot. When I came back from Thailand I was really shy. But being here, I've opened up again. I've really become more outspoken. I'm laughing a lot more and having fun."
With 42 credits in her pocket, and the same 'all gas, no brakes' approach to her education, Zoë will complete her degree in just five semesters, five months shy of her 19th birthday, with a 3.9+ GPA. In January, she'll start looking for a job in the communications field. It's possible she chases more degrees in the future. But not right now.
"It is a pride thing for me that I'm going to accomplish something at Siena that's only been done once before by someone a couple months younger than me. But I think I'm ready to take a little break from school."