Zoe Tseng, who just graduated from Andrew High School in Tinley Park, has learned to embrace the many challenges of being legally blind, taking on new activities such as line dancing.
Tseng’s hard work caught the attention of many teachers at Andrew, but also the scholarship committee from the Lighthouse Guild in New York City. The nonprofit awards scholarships to students with blindness or low-vision who “have demonstrated exceptional academic achievement and perseverance,” according to President and CEO Thomas Panek. In Tseng’s case, the scholarship is worth $10,000.
In addition to her high GPA and honors and advanced placement classes, she’s also been mastering her knowledge and skills in psychology, which she’ll be studying at the University of Illinois Chicago come fall.
She also received the Rita Brud Scholarship from Tinley Park for $1,000 and the University of Illinois Chicago’s yearly scholarship for $5,000.
“I like connecting with others and being able to help them,” said Tseng, adding she loved AP biology and learning about the brain and different aspects of personalities. “It feels good.”
Her extracurricular activities have often centered on that connection. She was a member of the Restorative Circles peer mediation group where she volunteered with an intervention specialist helping students who had gotten into fights, and participated in writing letters to veterans and residents of a retirement community. Tseng also was a Senior Leader at Andrew, and helped start a chapter of HOSA-Future Health Professionals.
She also enjoys spending time with friends, riding a tandem bike with her family, reading and making and drinking bubble tea.
Tseng hasn’t let being legally blind stop her from these activities, but it’s taken some doing.
“I wouldn’t say it’s no big deal because it is,” she said. “I have to put a lot more effort into it than someone sighted. But I’m happy with how things are going for me. There are a lot of positives.”
Tseng was born with cone-rod dystrophy, a genetic disorder that causes progressive loss of vision. She can still see, though everything is blurry and she wears sunglasses because of a sensitivity to light.
But she’s been working since third grade with Kathleen Redican, a teacher for the visually impaired at the Southwest Cook County Cooperative Association for Special Education, who has taught her to use technology to help make up for what she can’t see.
So she learned to use the screen reader software called JAWS — Job Access With Speech, as well as VoiceOver on the phone, another screen reader, which uses touch and voice.
Redican said Tseng has come a long way from being a quiet young girl to an independent, self confident teen who advocates for herself.
“She’s extremely driven, she’s motivated, she is one of the kindest people I know,” Redican said. “She’s just so considerate, so thoughtful.
“She has faced many barriers and challenges because of her vision impairment. I just feel like throughout her education, she has demonstrated remarkable perseverance, adaptability and independence.”
At Andrew, Tseng received occasional assistance from special services aide Kim Duffy, who, for example, helped her learn to measure materials correctly in chemistry class.
Tseng has also drawn, and returned, strength and support from classmates.
“I have the community of other blind students or students with disabilities,” she said. “I understand what it’s like to feel a little different or frustrated that I’m not like my peers.”
Her success has been the result of a combination of “drawing on the strength of those around us and being intrinsically motivated,” she said.
Another source of support is more ineffable.
“Having a more personal relationship with the Lord, that’s been a really big influence on me,” she said of being a parishioner and helping out at Lemont Church. “I think the Lord’s love is very influential.”
Behind it all has been the support of her mother Katie, dad Robert and older sister, Sophia. Even their 11-year-old shih-tzu-poodle, Ginger, has had a role.
Robert Tseng, her dad, said the family is continually impressed by Zoe.
“She has an interesting combination of being somebody who’s very determined, perseveres through hardships, but also somebody at the same time who can connect with people — she’s empathetic,”he said. “I think that’s a very interesting combination.
“Sometimes we scratch our heads … we’re not sure where things come from,” he said. “I think part of it is nature, the way they were born, and of course the people who have come into their lives. We have two daughters and they’re each very special in their own ways,” he said.
But he added that not being able to focus on a computer screen the way many people do could have been a benefit.
“It’s a blessing in disguise,” he said.
He said the support of the church, school and teachers have also been a difference.
“She’s had some wonderful teachers,” he said. “They’ve had such positive influences on her life.”
Redican said her former pupil has left her mark on her and at school.
“Zoe has made such a positive impact on my life and the Victor J. Andrew Community,” said Redican. “I know she will continue to positively impact others she will connect with as she pursues her college education at the University of Illinois Chicago.”
Janice Neumann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
