LEONARDTOWN, Md., June 6, 2025 — Emilie Garrabrant, a 17-year-old senior at St. Mary’s Ryken High School, has distinguished herself through academic excellence, community service, and a commitment to cultural understanding. As the daughter of Jeslyn and Robert Garrabrant, she credits her Singaporean Chinese and American heritage with shaping her global perspective. “My mother is Singaporean Chinese and my father is American, so I’ve had the pleasure of living at the crossroads of two distinct worlds,” Garrabrant said. Her achievements include founding Leonardtown’s first Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Site, leading extracurricular organizations, and earning prestigious scholarships.
Garrabrant’s passion for service led her to establish the tax assistance site to provide free help to community members. “It can be incredibly expensive to get your taxes done, and the ultimate purpose of our site was to eliminate that barrier to saving up funds,” she said. The initiative aims to help families build savings and achieve financial stability. She also served as co-chair of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Student Visionaries of the Year Junior Leadership Team, contributing to raising over $1.4 million for blood cancer research.
Her academic pursuits are equally impressive. Garrabrant captained the Mock Trial team, served as president of the Asian American Alliance, and was a state chapter director at Encode, an organization focused on artificial intelligence policy. She earned a Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish and studied Mandarin in Taipei, Taiwan, through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth. In 2022, she authored a historical fiction book, The Stars We Never Saw, available through major booksellers. Her awards include the Congressional Award Bronze Medal, the Princeton Prize in Race Relations Certificate, and the Coolidge Senator Scholarship.
Garrabrant’s education at St. Mary’s Ryken, a Xaverian Brothers-sponsored school, has been transformative. She highlighted her senior theology class with teacher John Olon as pivotal. “This class has changed everything for me,” she said. “I think differently about human desire, why I do what I do, what drives me, and where I’m heading.” Her AP Economics and AP Research classes with Deacon Kenneth Scheiber also shaped her perspective. Her yearlong research project explored cultural values and socioeconomic mobility in Singaporean Chinese communities. “I explored the idea of human dignity, which was informed by my Catholic education as well,” she said.
A defining moment came during her preparation for the sacrament of Confirmation, when a conversation with her advisor altered her educational path. “He asked me, ‘Why the heck would you do that?’” she said, recalling her initial plan to attend a public high school. “That one question changed the trajectory of my life.” She also served as a Senate page during the 2024–25 session of the Maryland General Assembly.
After graduation, Garrabrant will attend the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Morehead-Cain Scholar, a full-ride scholarship that includes tuition, housing, and summer enrichment opportunities. “I plan to study economics, global studies and philosophy,” she said. Her goal is to work in international development, focusing on empowering human dignity. “I’d like to empower human dignity and uplift the most vulnerable,” she said.
Selected as the Class of 2025 Xaverian Orator, Garrabrant will speak at the Baccalaureate Mass. Her advice to younger students reflects her proactive approach: “Always reach out and ask. We live in a world where it’s too easy not to ask.” She embraces the future with optimism, noting, “Sometimes, life becomes the most beautiful it can be when you end up without everything you thought you wanted.”
Garrabrant’s multicultural background has fueled her love for literature. Her parents gave her $50 annually to spend at a used book fair, where she explored diverse narratives. “I adventured aboard a spaceship with Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, became enraptured in the political scandals of the last Russian monarchy and witnessed the downfall of Nigerian tribes to colonization,” she said. “I realized history and experience shape people’s needs differently.” This perspective informs her academic and service endeavors, positioning her as a leader poised to make a global impact.