The Smile That Can Light Up A Room!

Schuyler’s middle name says it all: Sachi. It means “happiness” in Japanese. From the moment that Schuyler was born, she has always lived life to the fullest. Happiness truly IS her middle name. She laughs. She loves. She always dives fully and spectacularly into each moment. She has always loved adventure and she has even broken a few limbs in the process. Yes, by the age of six, she had broken each arm two times— but what an array of amazing casts she has sported!

Her “joie de vivre” lead her joyously through the best of the best in Tampa’s educational system from Montessori to Independent Day School (now Corbett Prep) to Berkeley Prep and then eventually to Yale. Schuyler’s zest for life is truly the stuff that folks might wish that they could bottle up and distribute. This is a young woman who is self-empowered and tenaciously optimistic.

In her freshman year at Yale, she traveled to Tanzania to teach English with Art in Tanzania. The experience impacted her so profoundly that upon her return, she launched a Yale branch of the global organization Net Impact. As it says on their web site, “100,000 strong with 300 global chapters, we take on social challenges, protect the environment and orient businesses and products toward the greater good.” Translation? They pick a HUGE global challenge, ask college students around the world for possible solutions and then literally donate $1,000,000 toward actualizing the winning idea. And yes, by her senior year, Schuy had become a spokesperson for Net Impact and their branch had been recognized as the top branch in the world. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/author/schuyler-arakawa

From there, her desire to positively transform the world lead her to Ecuador, Nepal, Barcelona, Croatia, Indonesia, Greece and numerous countries along the way. Friends say that she has always had the unique ability to draw out their courage and greatness— and to inspire them to be the absolute best that they can be.

On February 19, 2016 while on an adventure vacation in Colombia during a fellowship in Peru, Schuyler was randomly struck by a large boulder that fell from 30 feet above. The impact was devastating— crushing her skull, her lungs, and her shoulder blades and fracturing her spine, right thigh and left ankle. Normally, no one could survive such an injury— but Schuyler is not a “normal” young woman— and so the adventure of this incredible miracle began…. What transpired going forward was life changing not simply for Schuyler but for her mother Meridith, family and friends as well.

Always with a laugh and a smile, Schuy continues to find joy in the process and the journey toward her recovery is inspiring thousands all around the globe.