She made friends wherever she landed.
Canada, Germany and Australia as a child, then three U.S. high schools.
English, learned on the playground
Vancouver, Canada
From the age of three through third grade, Ari spent two to four months in Canada every year. She arrived speaking no English and picked it up at playgrounds, public libraries and day camps. By the end of each stay she was being invited to birthday parties and to friends’ houses.
On a flight home when she was five, she went to the restroom alone, was gone a long time, and came back to introduce her mother to her new best friend: a man in his eighties.A story her mother tells
A missed connection that became a friendship
Frankfurt and Düsseldorf, Germany
In fourth grade the family traveled through Germany. Moving from Frankfurt to Düsseldorf, something went wrong with their transportation. Sorting it out introduced the family to people who became friends.
The bushfire summer, and a friend in Sydney
Melbourne and Sydney, Australia
The family’s move from Melbourne to Sydney was disrupted by the bushfires. Again it was a stranger who helped, and of everyone she met in Australia, the person Ari remembers most is an older man in Sydney who became a friend. They drew together and shared meals.
Reading, wherever she was
Every city
Most of the family’s photos from those years show Ari with a book, on library carpets, on a train, on the rocks by a stream, or at a desk writing in a notebook.
Scroll sideways for more.
Junior reporter
Korea
As a child Ari joined the First BGV junior reporter corps. One of her pieces, on a visit to a women’s human rights support center, ran on its site. She also took part in a children’s bill-drafting contest.
Three high schools, three states
Minnesota, Illinois and California
Ninth grade at Marshall School in Duluth, Minnesota. Tenth at Carmel Catholic in Mundelein, Illinois. Eleventh and twelfth at Bishop Montgomery in Torrance, California. Each school graded on a different scale.
Yunseo (Ari) Choi, Class of 2027
