Seniors recruit other teens to continue nonprofit’s camps
When Ziling Zhou and Christopher Guffey formed their mentoring nonprofit as sophomores, they were focused on getting creative in the moment while giving back to the community and logging their volunteer hours.
But now that senior year has arrived, Zhou, of Highland Park High School, and Guffey, of St. Mark’s School of Texas, are looking at what’s next for ZG BrightFuture, their 501(c)(3) organization.
“The main thing I’m working on right now is just trying to find more people to take over and volunteer, which is surprisingly hard,” Zhou said, lamenting that a couple of members have already graduated. “It’s a lot easier to find people over the summer. People are less willing to commit time during the school week, especially on Fridays.”
ZG BrightFuture, which also involves HPHS students Shirley Sauber, Azarel Shives, and Alex Liu, provides after-school, weekend, and summer activities for youngsters at the Arlington Park and Reverchon Park recreation centers.
HPHS junior Serena Liu plans to get involved.
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“I’m good friends with Ziling — our grandmas are best friends,” Serena Liu said.
Sauber recalled how Zhou motivated her to get involved with the work three years ago.
“I really liked that she was making her own nonprofit,” Sauber said. “I thought that was really cool.”
Sauber also was already looking for ways to get her volunteer hours and the ZG BrightFuture mission fit her well.
“I really like interacting with the kids, and we focus primarily on STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and arts and crafts, which are both really passions of mine,” said the senior, who plans to study biology at Baylor University in the fall.
“I have a bunch of friends in the lower grades, so I’ve been trying to exert my influence there,” Sauber said. “I’m hoping that through Azarel and her friends she can continue this.”
As ZG BrightFuture expanded in the summer of 2025, Sauber and Shives led the Arlington Park camp, while Alex Liu and Zhou manned the new Reverchon Park location. A new group is starting at Carpenter Park Recreation Center in Plano with sophomores Ryan Chen and Andrew Wang of Jasper High School.
“Over the summer, we volunteered at the Dallas center,” Chen recalled. “We got to see what she was doing with the kids, and that really inspired us — that impact they had on the children — to open a Plano center.”
He would like to start a robotics program next.
“It encourages STEM as well as cooperation, because you have to work in a team to solve problems using robotics,” Chen explained.
Wang noted how sales from a baking business at Jasper have helped with funding and opened the potential for new programs.
“We’ve made a decent amount of money, where we can fund these robotic activities,” Wang said. “Additionally, I play basketball and he plays soccer, so, we can also involve more athletic things if we need to.”
As founders Zhou and Guffey look forward to college and life beyond, it looks like their community service nonprofit does indeed have a bright future.
