A paper chain snakes down the staircase, leaps up to the ceiling, falls back down into the embrace of gravity and winds out of sight around the dining room door. She traces the fragmented words running along the chain with her index finger, while contemplating the amount of time she spent piecing it together.

A paper chain–what an ironic combination of weightless and weighty–embodies the magical power of the stories that senior Elie Docter finds so fascinating. People reading stories are chained to reality, but their imagination is like paper, weightless in a windstorm of words.

“I’m fascinated by how easily I can get wrapped up in something that’s just people reading lines that somebody wrote down,” Docter said.

This interest in writing and other related hobbies stems from her exposure to a wide range of movies and stories as a child, Docter said. Her first writing attempts were short stories.

“I wrote a short story about myself getting a pet elephant,” Docter said. “Which was a big dream of mine in my first grade life.”

Her writing passion abated temporarily in middle school because of the monotonous assignments, Docter said. The mundane, three paragraph essays diminished her interest in writing and led her to pursue a more visual side of story telling instead—film and animation.

PMS film teacher Anne Smith said that the films Docter made truly reflected her positive and genuine personality.

“[Docter] is a breath of fresh air,” Smith said. “She’s very expressive, and very observant.”

Docter said that once she entered high school, where no film classes are offered, she resorted to art. She took her father’s advice, and carried a notebook everywhere, using the objects and people surrounding her as models for her drawings.

“She has her little Toy Story notebook that she pulls out every so often,” Docter’s friend, senior Megan Deutsche said.

One day in calculus class, senior Sarah Stuetz was absent, so Docter made a portrait of Stuetz and placed it on her desk, senior Julia Kelly said.

“It was such a classic cartoon of Sarah,” Kelly said.

Docter said she adds life to her school notebooks as well by taking notes using colored pens. The habit began with her history notebook last year, and now extends to all of her school notebooks. Docter takes her notes very seriously: she uses specific pens (scrupulously selected in Germany last summer) and adheres to strict rules when the pen is in her hand.

“I start by grabbing three colors that look good together, but I have to spread it out to make sure I don’t use the same color too often,” Docter said. “I’m a cool color person.”

Docter’s ability to convey her humorous personality also manifests itself on stage, Kelly said.

Docter said that she began acting her freshmen year and has really enjoyed the process of bringing alive stories. Currently, her main interest is comedic acting. To commemorate the most recent comedic play, Servant of Two Masters, Docter invoked her secret knitting talent, and knit her fellow cast member, senior Tyler Ellis, a scarf.

“There’s a really natural comedic sense to her that comes out when she acts,” Stuetz said.

High school not only sparked her interest in acting, but also rekindled her passion for writing, Docter said. She plans on studying writing, more specifically English, in college.

“If I could snap my fingers and everything would be perfect, I would end up writing for Saturday Night Live,” Docter said.

Her inspiration is Amy Poehler, an American comedian and writer, who stars in the TV show Parks and Recreation. Poehler served as her mentor throughout middle school, when her “personal renaissance” occurred, Docter said.

“A lot of my values erupted from the wholesomeness of Parks and Recreation,” Docter said, a smile playing on her face as she glanced up at the paper chain above her.

Perhaps some day she will be able to harness words and free audiences from the weighty chains of the present.

“It feels very rewarding to walk through my house and touch a paper chain wherever I go,” Docter said.