Balancing School, Passions, and Life: An Interview with Mikayla Medrano

Let's face it. Life is one big balancing act. Whether it's academics, sports, hobbies, or life in general, you'll always be juggling more than one thing. But what do you do when you're juggling too much?

For OHS student Mikayla Medrano ('27), this balancing act is more than familiar. Between her three schools, clubs, varsity basketball, tennis lessons, choir, piano, and other musical interests, she's learned how to stay focused when life gets busy.

A Look Into Mikayla's Regular Schedule:

Q: "Tell me a bit about how your week typically looks. What's your overall workload whether it be academics, sports, or hobbies?"

A: "I attend three schools, so I'm what they call a dual enrollment student. (In-person school, Community College, Stanford OHS). I go to my in-person school from 7 to 10 a.m. and then I leave and go home. Then I do my online community college classes. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I have Stanford OHS classes."

Q: "That's nice that the college classes are online."

A: "It was actually a pretty cool option. It just really depended on what you wanted, so I could choose to drive to the campus itself and take classes there or do a sort of hybrid thing. I chose for just strictly online learning."

Q: "And do you do clubs at all of them? I'm guessing not at the community college though."

A: "Yeah, not the community college given I am technically a high school student. But I do clubs at my in-person school, and then I'm currently in the Model UN here (OHS)."

In the interview section "On Motivation," Mikayla goes into detail about one of her in-person school clubs called Hands for Humanity. 

Q: "Ooh. That one's fun. How about sports?"

A: "I've been playing basketball since middle school. The season has not started yet because it's a winter sport, but tryouts are going to be in the second week of November. I'm looking forward to that. I've been going to the practices. They are on and off since it's technically off-season right now." 

On Managing Her Schedule + Leaving Time For Rest:

A: "In terms of how I plan out my week, I have my schedule behind me."

Mikayla motions behind her, to a big white-board covered in colorful, neatly written to-dos.

Q: "Oh my goodness gracious. Wait, that's amazing."

A: "So that's how I plan out my week. And I do it from Monday to Saturday. Typically, Sundays would be my reset day. After I complete all of my stuff that I have planned from Monday to Saturday, and then of course I have stuff on Sunday too, but I don't consider it too much because it's more of a rest day for me. I then erase it all and I start preparing it for the week ahead."

Q: "What do you have on it? Does it include all of your assignments?"

A: "Yeah, so it is assignments. And then it's also club meetings and other stuff too. So, for example, I have other tasks in general. If I have to email a professor or a teacher, then I'll put those on there. Also deadlines for club stuff. If I have to make a post for social media. Same goes for sports as well. Just really any event I have, I just add it right on the board."

A (continued): "Besides the board, I also use calendars a lot. So all those are reminders. So even though I have it on the board, I still put it on my actual phone calendar just so that I actually get the notification because I'm still prone to forgetting. So having all the precautions helps."

On Time-management:

Q: "What's probably the hardest thing to balance out of all of it?"

A: "In terms of what I think I struggle with balancing the most, I think it's finding a rhythm in the sense where, of course, every week it'll be different assignments, different projects. Some weeks are definitely way lighter than others. So, I think what I struggle with is finding that consistent motivation. Some weeks it'll really be a bunch and then I'll be super tired afterwards and my productivity levels will be super low the following week."

A (continued): "I think a part of what I could be doing better is definitely time management. I think time management plays a super huge role and it's something that I am constantly trying to work on. I'll try different methods. Sometimes I… you hear of the pomodoro technique?"

Q: "Yeah, those block schedules?"

A: "Like, oh you study super hard for two hours then you get up, take a break and then you come back and do it again. So I would say that I've tried my fair hand at everything and I still haven't quite found something that really works for me. I think it'll just really be something that I'll always have to work on."

On Knowing Your Limits:

A: "But overall I think one of the harder things, too, is balancing clubs and extracurriculars into this. I've had to cut back on some of the things that I did in previous years just because of a lack of time or even space for it. So it's definitely always the hard thing to choose where it's like, okay, I love doing all of these things, but I have to focus on only a few of them. So then it's a matter of cutting it out. And then that's really hard because if I could, I would do everything that I want to do."

Q: "I see. Yeah. That's responsible, like knowing your limits. Because then it creeps up on you, definitely, when you've got too much. And it's just this wave of, oh no. But it sounds like you know yourself and you've got a good hold on, like the mindset that it'll always be changing and it doesn't have to be perfect."

A: "Yeah it's definitely been something that I've had to work on over the years. Mindset is everything."

On Believing In Yourself:

A: "I could easily think that I really can't do any of this. But I think even if you believe in yourself, you're already halfway there. And the rest of it is you actually doing the work. But it really has to come from a place where you're the one who's motivating yourself. And I guess this ties into advice to where… it's hard not to do it for external validation. I think, especially with a lot of people, it's really easy to yearn or long for academic validation, which is part of the reason why we work so hard, why we strive so hard, why we put ourselves through all of these clubs and extracurriculars and super hard classes. But I think it's a really good reminder to yourself that at the end of the day, you're doing this for you. So you should be kind to yourself in all aspects. And also, yeah, know your limits."

On Asking For Help:

A: "Even though I would say I've always been pretty busy a lot of my life, three schools is never something I've done before. Especially with two of those schools being considered rigorous, especially Stanford OHS. So I really respect a lot of the students here. I love asking for help and I think that's another piece of advice too. And it's something that I also have to work on. It's having the humility to ask for help or to recognize that there's always ways you can improve. So it was hard at first, but then I realized that help will help me."

On Motivation:

Q: "What really keeps you motivated to keep on going? Especially since you said like all your life you've been quite busy."

A: "Let's see. I would say, as I said earlier, it definitely comes from myself. Just in an effort that I want to do good. I think one of my end goals is, of course, studying hard because it's so cliche, but I really want to be a lawyer one day, and I want to major in biomedical engineering because I really want to create things to help people. I am so seriously devoted and passionate about volunteering and being involved in the community. That's one of the clubs that I'm in at my in-person school. It's called Hands for Humanity. And we are all about environmentally friendly practices and then just really helping and volunteering in any way that we can."

Mikayla is the Co-President of Hands for Humanity. See @hands4humanitysc on Instagram! They are an eco-friendly and volunteering-centered club.

A (continued): "And just knowing that the work that I'm putting in right now so that I could then get a good education to then be able to help people potentially, that is really what drives me. And then, even as a lawyer, to just be able to help people with their specific cases, to give them relief, to bring them comfort and aid that's really what I wanted to do I think in the back of my mind my whole life."

Q: "Wow, that is a really strong motivation. I don't know what to say… seriously though, like if you ever have time in the future you should do a podcast."

A: "I would love to have a podcast."

Q: "And one day you'll be a lawyer and maybe publish a book. I don't know what you call it. Like a memoir."

A: "That'd be really cool. It'll be probably a couple decades."

Q: "You know, you can put that on the whiteboard."

A: "Oh like 20 years in the future, write a book."

Q: "Yeah, have a little timer, an alarm clock. One day you'll just be like, what's this? Huh?"

A: "Oh my gosh, I have to write a book. I forgot about that. That'd be pretty funny."

Besides her future podcast, Mikayla has a Youtube channel (@mikiyasmusic) where she plays the ukulele and writes her own songs.

As Mikayla continues her journey, her story serves as an inspiration for everyone who is juggling life. Hold on to your passions and remember, "you don't have to be perfect." Mikayla reminds us that "at the end of the day, you're doing this for you. Be kind to yourself in all aspects."