Aoki Mae
Learning about God and different people in the Bible excites Aoki Mae each week she attends Sunday school classes at St. Matthew AME. Aoki (pronounced i-oki) also likes the snacks and playing Kahoot! following the Sunday school lesson, a game at which she is very good. "I may get a couple wrong," she said. "I like to get the gift cards," she said of winning.
Aoki has been a member of St. Matthew AME since she was 6 months old. She attends church and Sunday School each week with her grandmother, Delores Mae, a Sunday school teacher and former Sunday school superintendent. Aoki, who lives with her dad, Jonathan Mae, and mom, Leslie Brown, spends her weekends with her grandmother and attends church with her.
The 10-year-old is a competitive 5th grader with a 3.45 average. She enjoys physical education and art as well as science and math classes. She is also a member of the art club and the book club, and Aoki has tried out for the basketball team and for cheerleading. Her busy life does not stop with church and school. She is also active in "Love You Girl Foundation," a South Orange agency that fights domestic violence.
She also likes participating in plays produced by the Sunday school department, including last December's production of "Now I See." Aoki learned her lines weeks ahead of time so she would be ready for her performance. And she really liked the recent fundraiser auction where she and her grandmother won the bid for a Donovan McNabb jersey for her dad, who is an avid Eagles fan. "We had fun going back and forth," she said.
Her favorite saying is "To God be the Glory." Every day is about God, Grandmother Mae said she has taught Aoki. "We should always glorify his name."
Aoki has also done the welcome to visitors and the prayer call to worship during youth Sundays at the church. And she is involved in youth activities in the church as well.
She has also created three small businesses, making and selling bracelets with her best friend and selling snacks to friends after school. And sometimes she does nails, too.
"We talk about using the gifts God has given you."
Grandmother Mae said she also sings and has taken piano lessons. One of Aoki's favorite activities is doing arts and crafts in the kitchen with her grandmother. "She has a special spot here on the kitchen counter," Grandmother Mae said.
And both grandmother and granddaughter like to travel. Their month-long trip to Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina during the summer months includes visiting her cousins and her uncle, Nathaniel Jr., Grandmother Mae's oldest son. "We have a good time," both said.
Grandmother Mae joined St. Matthew in 1991 and became a Sunday school teacher, eventually becoming superintendent. She has served the Sunday school for more than three decades. "I love it," she said. "And I wanted Aoki to be a part of the church so I started bringing her."
Aoki said she would eventually like to become a veterinarian or seamstress. She has a dog named Deuce Blue Mae, "a friendly boxer who is 4 years old in human years."
By Sandra Long Weaver