Taking advantage of her opportunities, Zori reaches Step 1 of her life plan – an Ivy League scholarship

FORT LAUDERDALE – Zori Brown was in the sixth grade when she made a plan for her future that was concise and to the point:

• Attend an Ivy League college.
• Major in finance.
• Become a chief financial officer.

“I don’t know of any sixth-graders who have a life plan,” said Zori’s mom, Endea Mathis.

Endea said she was raised in a home where education was stressed above all else, and she passed that on to her only child.

“It was taught to her at a young age that you're a student first. We pride ourselves on that,” Endea said. “But she took it to a whole other level.”

Six years later, the plan is still in play.

Zori, 17, is set to graduate in May near the top of her class from St. Thomas Aquinas High School (STA) in Fort Lauderdale. She will continue her education at Dartmouth College, an Ivy League school in Hanover, New Hampshire, where she received a volleyball scholarship. She will major in finance.

The end goal hasn’t changed – become a CFO, possibly on Wall Street.

“She’ll be something someday, that’s for sure,” Lisa Zielinski, STA’s volleyball coach, said.

Ambitious goals like these and the means to reach them are what attracted Zori to STA. She attends the academically and athletically competitive private Catholic high school with the help of a Family Empowerment Scholarship for Educational Options (FES-EO). The scholarship is managed by Step Up For Students.

“If it wasn’t for Step Up, she wouldn’t be able to attend St. Thomas, her dream school, because I couldn’t afford it,” Endea said. “The scholarship has been tremendous for us.”

Zori attended a charter school near her home in Pembroke Pines, which is a half hour south of STA. She enjoyed her time there and felt she was pushed academically. But for high school, she wanted something more.

Athletically, Zori joined one of the top volleyball programs in Florida. She finished her high school career as a captain of a team that won back-to-back state titles. As a senior, Zori was team MVP and first-team all-Broward County. She was also named to the American Volleyball Coaches Association's third team.

In volleyball, college coaches recruit players from the AAU national circuit. Zori gained attention playing for the Wildfire Volleyball Academy’s national team, playing weekend tournaments in Atlanta, Kansas City, and Indianapolis, as well as Orlando and South Florida. Dartmouth coaches first approached her when she was in the ninth grade.

“Volleyball has impacted my life a lot,” Zori said. “It’s brought so much joy into my life, and I’m going to a great college through volleyball. I'm so grateful for it.”

Her academic life is equally important. She pushes herself just as hard in the classroom as she does on the volleyball court.

“I have to get a high mark, I just challenge myself,” she said. “There may be a class I don't really know much about, but in X amount of months, I'm going to walk out of here, and I'm going to know as much as I can. I

think what keeps me going is thinking about the future and how I want to be successful in life, and I feel by challenging myself academically, that's going to help me get there.”

Zori’s play on the court, where she is an outside hitter, drew the attention from the coaches at Ivy League universities Yale, Brown, and Princeton. She was also recruited by Georgetown University, Stony Brook University, and Davidson College.

In addition to her athletic prowess, Zori brings leadership and a high moral character to the team, which, Coach Zielinski said, enables her to be successful.

“Once in a while, you get a player who has it all,” Zielinski said. “I know the Dartmouth coaches are going to be happy to have her, because she’s going to contribute to that school and that program. She’ll make a difference. She’ll thrive in that academic setting.”

Endea, who is slowly changing her wardrobe from STA’s blue and gold to Dartmouth’s green, is not surprised her daughter is headed to an Ivy League school, though she was quick to add, “I brag all the time.”

“She’s always been confident, always been competitive,” Endea said. “She always wanted to do well, always wanted to be first in everything. That’s from her upbringing. I always pushed her to be the best she could be. She always wanted more out of life.”

Zori doesn’t feel she would be heading to an Ivy League college without the education she received at STA. The faculty helped her lift her academics to a higher level. That, combined with her competitive nature and her laser-like focus on her future, means she will trade sunny South Florida for some New England winters.

“I know this is really cliché, but you only live once,” Zori said. “I think about that all the time. You have to work hard in this life because you don’t get another one. You have to take advantage of the opportunities you have. The decisions you make now affect your future.”

Roger Mooney, manager, communications, can be reached at [email protected].