This is senior Kasia Zajac.

She is an introverted (but kind) girl to the common eye. She processes many things internally and claims she is quite an emotional person. She can cry at anything, feels the emotional pain others feel when she sees it occurring, and cares about others more than herself. She listens to music, especially to gain confidence, and loves going on solitary walks or bike rides outside.

But once Zajac gets comfortable with people…they forget she was ever introverted. Her family and friends would most definitely say she energetic and slightly crazy in addition to her kind persona. And deep down, she sees herself as an adventurous and funny person.

Zajac is of 100 percent Polish descent and, besides her and her older sister, her entire family was born in Poland. Her full name, Katarzyna, translates to Katherine in English; her nickname, Kasia, translates to Kate in English.

She is fluent in both Polish and English, and was taught the two languages at relatively the same time. Her parents both grew up in Poland, moved to the U.S., and met in the U.S. From a preschool- or kindergarten-age up until her junior year, she also went to Polish school every Saturday morning.

She’s only been to Poland twice in her lifetime, because it is difficult to travel a lot as a family of four. However, Zajac usually stays there about one month at a time.

Her favorite Polish dish is called pierogi, which she considers to be like dumplings Polish-style. There are different kinds of pierogi. The one her family usually eats and makes is called ruskie pierogi, and inside the dough contains a white cheese, onions, and a lovely seasoning. Most times her family will dip the pierogi in a goulash, even though most Polish people would not…

Once someone gets to know Zajac – background and all – she can definitely be talkative and bubbly. She believes in making decisions that will ensure happiness, and does not take risks if it will promise regret afterwards. Zajac knows how to find the positives when life bombards everyone with so many negatives.

Because she has mindset geared toward happiness, she likes to get involved in several things she is interested in. She is a part of HHS’s Baking Club and the Scholastic Bowl Team. Zajac loves food (her favorite being waffles) and loves making food, and using and gaining information from the Scholastic Bowl Team has been rewarding to her in many aspects.

In addition, she loves reading stories, especially those on Wattpad. Several of those she reads on Wattpad have to do with the fandoms she is in. Zajac reads Wattpad stories from some of these topics she’s interested in: The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Dr. Who, Supernatural, anything Marvel, and Gilmore Girls.

She does not have a dream career as of yet, and she states that it is because she is interested in way too many things and wants to do basically everything (as one can tell). However, when she does decide, it will be because it makes her happy.

In addition to telling me a little bit about herself, Zajac chose and answered a question she knew she had something to say about: Have you ever taken a huge risk? What was it, and was it worth it? Watch the video above to see her response.