Profile: Pioneer’s Elizabeth “Bizzy” Webb is quite Bizzy – on and off the pitch

When Elizabeth “Bizzy” Webb isn’t in her soccer cleats knocking the ball around the pitch for the Pioneer girls’ soccer team, you will find the senior getting every last kick, header and goal out of the game of life. It’s pretty clear that Bizzy stays busy and is going to get the most out of every second of every minute of every day.

Before we head out on the pitch, let’s take a look at what is not only a very Bizzy schedule, but an impressive and even admirable one.

Webb, 18, is the president of National Honors Society – where she has played a role in increasing teenage philanthropy and volunteerism within the Pioneer student body. She is in her third year as the Student Council Social Committee Chair where she helps generate school spirit and reflect the needs and desires of the student body by advocating and planning social events. “My goal is to help students secure friendships, and make long-lasting high school memories,” she says.

Webb is a member of DECA (international champion / fourth place in Business Solutions Project) and for three years has been a Peer 2 Peer Member where she is trained by members of the U-M Depression Center, developing mental health awareness and advocacy campaigns, and connecting students with community counseling resources.

And there’s more – much more.

“This year I am so grateful to have gotten involved with the Pioneer Trailblazer program,” she says. “Each day I go back to my elementary school, Burns Park, and tutor a kindergartener. By building foundational math, reading, writing, and social-emotional skills, I am able to promote educational and behavioral growth. Most importantly, I am able to foster an environment for the sweetest little kindergartener I know to be uniquely and truly herself.”

Webb loves to write and shares her passion as a tutor in the school’s writing center.

“Naturally I am a social butterfly and love chatting it up with fellow peers, so I find great joy in mentoring fellow Pioneer students with their writing,” she says. “From college essays, AP history papers, to resumes, I work hard to bolster students’ voices and writing by offering them advice and feedback.”

Webb also is the female head of A2 Sports Media and helps create graphics to market all of Pioneer’s sporting events.

For the past eight years, Webb and her family has been involved in fostering children with medical impairments from Western Africa.

“Our first child, Ma, is from the Ivory Coast and she stayed with my family during her treatment of her stage 4 Retinoblastoma eye cancer,” Webb says. “She underwent chemo, radiation, the removal of an eye, and the adoption of a prosthetic eye (she is now five years cancer free). Our other foster child, Christ, is from Burkina Faso and was diagnosed with Caudal Regression Syndrome. He underwent a double leg amputation, and is now walking circles around me with his two prosthetic legs! Both are now healthy and living with their families in Africa. Through fostering I have definitely been instilled with empathy, patience and resilience.”

Webb, who has a 3.98 GPA, is the amazing daughter of Nicole and David Webb. She will walk (run) across the street next year to attend Ross Business School at the University of Michigan. She plans to major in marketing with a niche focus on social impact, and emerging markets in developing countries.

“I chose U-M because it is the best school in the nation for what I want to study,” she says. “The collaborative culture, and the Big 10 experience with immense social opportunities and student life is a perfect fit for me. I definitely see myself staying active throughout college, and hope to join the intramural/club soccer team to continue my passion for soccer.”

Ah, yes, soccer. Somehow, someway Webb finds time to play a demanding and time-consuming varsity sport. She fist gave the sport a kick in kindergarten.

“I was put on the Burns Park Penguins Rec & Ed team, and from the first time I laced up my boots and stepped on the mildly uneven grass field (lol), I fell in love with the sport,” she says. “Putting up my hair in pigtails, filling up iced water bottles, and strapping on shin guards soon became routine.”

Webb has played varsity soccer for the Pioneers since her freshman year. She is known as not only a very good player but a great teammate who always plays hard in games and practice. This year, she is one of the team’s captains.

“As a captain, I hope to foster an environment in which everyone is growing, getting better, and having fun,” says Webb, who plays attacking central midfield for Coach Siobhan Norman’s Pioneers. “I encourage my teammates to bring the intensity, passion, commitment to get better, and desire to compete on the pitch, every day.”

Webb also has played club soccer over the years. She played for MPSA Crush for six years before switching to the Michigan Tigers.

Pioneer has a strong and competitive team this year and are very well coached and always play hard. “We are putting much emphasis on collaboration and team unity between our three collective teams (JV White, JV Purple and Varsity),” says Captain Webb. “We are striving to not only win, but win deep! What this means is that we are curating a system in which we are focusing on team bonding and building up trust and support between teammates: the only way a team can really garner success in a team sport.”

When the clock allows Webb a little free time, she enjoys hanging out with family and friends, going up north (Torch Lake), traveling and of course reading and writing.

Her story is in the early chapters but this Pioneer senior is already creating an impressive page turner – with many more pages still to turn.

Senior pictures by Ebba Gurney Photography and Lucy Carpenter Photography