One Tuesday in the middle of a foggy, sleepy, East Coast suburb, the still-groggy interviewer woke up at 5:30 in the morning—an hour before usual—while outside, all was still. Dawn had yet to break; the temperature hovered somewhere below freezing; the first morning train to D.C. had not yet roared through the railroad station a few blocks from his home. The interviewer splashed some water onto his face and poured himself a cup of instant coffee. Then, he sighed, before logging onto Zoom to meet with 18-year-old photographer Yaakov Ellis, who was on the campus of the international school he attends in Phuket, Thailand. The time was likewise 5:45 for Ellis, except in the evening—the two were literally on opposite ends of the Earth.

The interviewer called sixteen-year-old Sophia Hou the evening before Thanksgiving, while school was out. Hou attends Richard Montgomery High School in Maryland, where she’s enrolled in the rigorous International Baccalaureate diploma program—a curriculum based in a holistic, liberal arts philosophy. 

The interviewer spoke with Rachel Chitofu over Zoom while she was seven time zones away and on the campus of the University of Zimbabwe, where she’s currently in her fifth year of studying medicine. Due to the poor internet connection, her voice sporadically cut to static. She speaks slowly, with a Zimbabwean accent—her native language is Shona—but her words are sharp and dramatic.