Doodling Flowers Weiying (Annie) Zhang

Whenever I’m taking notes in English, answering questions on a history test, or listening to a class discussion, I doodle flowers. Yes, flowers. You might imagine that a high school senior in AP classes would be too busy absorbing PowerPoint slides and wringing out essays to doodle. And to an extent, you are correct. Nevertheless, no matter how taxing the class, I always find time to sketch a few blossoms on my papers. Although I’ve done this since middle school, I still don’t understand why. Whatever the reason, the flowers are my personality stamp.

Maybe it’s because the flowers are symmetrical: a circle surrounded by five petals, attached to a two-leafed curvy stem. I’m a fan of symmetry and balance -- perhaps it’s the obsessive side of me. Regardless, scattering my signature flowers on schoolwork relaxes me. Likewise, the yin-yang balance in my life enriches everything I do. While I’m the science nerd who spent one summer synthesizing nanoparticles in WashU’s lab, I’m also the art junkie who makes watercolors of her backyard forest on the weekends. While I’m the stereotypical Asian scholar in class, after school, I’m the most non-competitive mini-tennis player on the JV court.

Maybe my flowers represent the exhilaration I...