Skye Schofield-Saba
St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School
When Skye Schofield-Saba was in kindergarten, her teacher relied on his ears to find her on the playground. “He could always find me if he heard the Mamma Mia! soundtrack,” says the singer.
Now 18, the Arlington teen has long had a penchant for the arts, serving as president of her high school a cappella group, designing stage sets, editing the school literary magazine and interning at the Smithsonian Freer and Sackler Galleries.
But she also feels quite at home outside the confines of a classroom or museum. Each summer, she teaches D.C.-area kids how to sail at a Washington Sailing Marina camp she first attended in third grade. “My mom grew up in Jamaica, so she remembered being on the water and loving all that,” says Schofield-Saba, who returned to the sailing camp each summer, eventually transitioning into a counselor role. “It’s kind of like full circle.”
As a student at St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School, she was elected by faculty members and her peers to serve on the school’s honor and disciplinary board. She and other student board members reviewed two to three student infractions a week, doling out consequences as well as advice. “If they’re stressed, we [empathize],” she says, explaining that her role was not just punitive, but also supportive.
An only child, Schofield-Saba was adopted from China as an infant. Her mother was also adopted. In their household, she says, family is defined not by blood, but rather by “your love for one another.”
She shares an ancient Asian legend that is popular in the adoption community: “Everyone is born with a little red thread tied around their pinkie finger, and it connects you to everyone that you meet in your life. As a little girl, I always believed that I was tied to my family through that red thread…and that transfers to now; I believe I was connected to St. Stephen’s and all the people that I met here.”
This fall, she plans to forge new connections at Tulane University in New Orleans, where she hopes to explore art history and preservation, as well as local culture. –Eliza Tebo Berkon