Three Trajectories, One School, and the Same Passion for Learning: A Pianist, Soccer Player, and Dancer
Elly Gibbens (‘30)
1. What sport do you play and what was your motivation for starting it?
I play soccer and started when I was 3. However, I stopped during COVID and later transitioned to horse riding. After 3 years, I decided it wasn’t what I wanted anymore, so I tried soccer again because I remembered how much joy it brought me.
2. How does SOHS accommodate or support your athletic schedule?
The team I currently play on isn’t overly demanding, so I haven’t had any conflicts with SOHS and soccer. I will say that going to SOHS has made it much easier to practice on my own.
3. Walk me through what a day in your life looks like (What time you wake up, your class periods, meals, practice, bedtime etc).
My schedule varies every day, so here’s a Tuesday, which is luckily one of my lighter days. I start my day by waking up between 6:30 and 7:00 AM and heading downstairs to make breakfast. I have pretty much the same breakfast every day: 3 large eggs, a slice of sourdough, and an apple. Around 7:20 AM, I go upstairs and get ready for class. From 8:00-9:10 AM, I have my first class of the day: Empires & World Civilizations to 1800. Afterwards, I grab a snack and start some work. At 12:00 PM, I stop doing homework and eat lunch. From 1:00-2:15 PM, I have Latin 1B and Intermediate Algebra. Once classes are done, I do more work until 5:00 PM, when I eat dinner, which ranges from a salad to chicken and broccoli. After dinner, I generally go to the soccer fields near me and practice drills until 7:00-7:30 PM. At the end of the day, I head home, shower, do some final homework, and go to bed around 10:00 PM.
4. Are you considering any future careers? What are your goals for high school and beyond (can be a simple goal).
As of right now, I want to become a mechanical engineer first, and once I get enough experience at work and enough in my retirement account, I would like to follow in my parents’ footsteps and become a civil servant, working in the government. My goals for high school are to 1) Learn as much as I can while I have the time, 2) Live a healthy life, both mentally and physically, and 3) Grow in my relationship with God and be a good representative of Christianity. Beyond high school, I want to constantly strive for progression in my work, family, friendships, and spirituality, as well as help those who need it, following the steps of the many gracious and hospitable women who have influenced my life.
5. What values do you strive to live by, and where were they developed (were they derived from your sport, SOHS, your choice of religion, an influential person, etc)?
I have two main values I strive to live by: “Never take opportunities away from yourself,” simple yet powerful words spoken to me by my mother’s best friend, and the pursuit of never compromising my faith for momentary comfort.
6. Do you have any advice, encouragement, or an inspirational quote for current or incoming SOHS student-athletes?
Do your homework as soon as you get assigned it, eat the best food possible, and you don’t have to be perfect—just show up and figure it out then (only applies to practice, not school, interviews, or anything else).
Jackson He (‘30)
1. What instrument do you play and what was your motivation for starting it?
I’m a pianist, and I started playing the piano when I was three. My mom’s a piano teacher, so when I was young, I was constantly exposed to all kinds of music: classical, pop, even movie theme songs. Gradually, I began developing my own tastes and opinions on different types of music. However, I really began to connect more deeply with classical music—it’s a form of music normally devoid of lyrics, but can still convey absolutely beautiful tones and melodies.
2. How does SOHS accommodate or support your busy schedule?
OHS has a wonderfully lenient sense of flexibility when it comes to taking classes and homework. For example, when I need to record a piece for a competition, the process of catching up to what was taught in class and homework is extremely easy. At my previous school, missing even a single day of class would mean that I would have to spend a lot of time asking my professors what the class had discussed that day. At OHS, where students can essentially study at a more flexible pace, it is less detrimental to miss a day of class, since it’s relatively simple to catch up!
3. Walk me through what a day in your life looks like (What time you wake up, your class periods, meals, practice, bedtime etc).
I usually wake up at around 7:30 in the morning and get ready for the day. After finishing breakfast at 8:00, I try to fit in as much practice time as I can until my first class of the day, which is usually at 9:45. Sometimes, when I have extracurricular lessons, I might not get to practice and have to fit time in later in the afternoon. After class, I have lunch almost immediately, as my next class is usually only around an hour away. In the afternoon, from around 1:00 to 4:00, I have time that I can use to practice and do homework. Later, after my final class at 5:00, I have dinner and commence doing homework and/or practicing piano. After preparing for bedtime (which is usually around 10:00 at night), I go to sleep. On Fridays and weekends, the routine is changed slightly, where I’ll spend the majority of my time practicing instead.
5. What values do you strive to live by, and where were they developed (from practicing instruments, SOHS, choice of religion, an influential person, etc)?
There are two main things I try to keep in mind every day. The first is reminding myself that music is a form of art, meaning that you can never completely satisfy each and every person when playing the piano. Even if your performance is technically sound and musically rich, it cannot always be what a person is looking for. This allows me to express what I feel in both music and other forms of art (like writing!) easily and thoroughly. However, I also remind myself that others’ opinions are extremely important, which relates to my second “main thing”: staying humble. As a pianist, personal opinions are essential to a successful performance, but most of the time, what others have to say about what I am playing are usually flaws that I, by myself, cannot see. Therefore, making sure to be receptive to, and most importantly, implement others’ suggestions is not only beneficial, but necessary. These two facets of my ideology were found after nearly eleven years of playing the piano.
6. Do you have any advice, encouragement, or an inspirational quote for current or incoming SOHS student-artists?
Remember, if you have a dream, make sure to keep cultivating it. Do whatever you can to reach that dream, and make sure to never abandon it.
Reika Fukushima (‘30)
1. What kind of student-artist are you, and what was your motivation for starting?
I have been dancing for ~10 years, and my motivation for starting ballet probably came from my natural love of making people laugh, which I’ve had since I was a toddler. However, I wasn’t quite extraverted enough to pursue musical theater, so my mom put me into my first dance lessons at age 3, and began training at a professional studio at age 4. My love for making people laugh eventually evolved into a broader joy of bringing pleasure to my audience —making them feel something, whether that be joy, giddiness, rage, or sorrow.
2. How does SOHS accommodate or support your busy schedule?
OHS accommodates my schedule very well. Whenever something comes up, whether expected or unexpected, I almost always have the option to reschedule my classes by attending a different section, and I can of course watch the convenient recordings in Adobe Connect to catch up. Whenever I have performances (The Nutcracker, Frankenstein, etc.) that I know will affect my usual schedule, I make sure to email my instructors as soon as possible to arrange adjustments. Even if there are last minute rehearsals calls, my instructors have been very understanding, and though I can’t always reschedule a class, I can always rewatch the recording and make up for the content I missed.
3. Walk me through what a day in your life looks like (What time you wake up, your class periods, meals, practice, bedtime etc).
I will walk you guys through one of my busiest days: a Wednesday. I wake up at 6:45 AM and get ready for the day. My first class is science, at 7:15 AM where we take a quiz every week. I have 15 minutes before my next class since my Spanish starts at 8:30 AM. In those 15 minutes, I try to make myself breakfast, usually just a slice of toast, and write myself a to-do list for the day. Then, at 11:00 AM I have my English class, Taking Literature Apart, where I find myself immersed, time and time again, in intellectual discussions with my peers. After TLA, I make myself a quick lunch, usually a salad or a sandwich, before I start doing my homework. I work on homework until my last class, Human Nature and Society (my favorite), which starts at 4:00 PM. After my final class, I do my daily stretching and body conditioning, eat dinner, and finish up my homework. I try to sleep around 11:00 PM, although that doesn’t always happen if I’m curled up with a good book.
4. Are you considering any future careers? What are your goals for high school and beyond (can be a simple goal).
As an indecisive person, I do not know exactly what career I would like to pursue. What I do know is that I hope to engage in the humanities, perhaps in law or government. I aspire to become an ethical and empathetic leader who can create meaningful, positive change within our currently rigid systems. I also envision myself founding a business grounded in a humanistic and ethical basis —one that prioritizes the well being of humans and non-human animals, accumulates wealth responsibly, and distributes it toward the “right” causes. My goals for high school and beyond are to continue growing as a person; I hope to continue striving to conduct all my actions with humility and empathy.
5. What values do you strive to live by, and where were they developed (from practicing instruments, SOHS, choice of religion, an influential person, etc)?
I strive to live by three main core values. The first is quite simple: keep empathy at the heart of all courses of actions, a value inspired by my mother. Second, I strive to always put my privilege towards goodness and move through life with intention, a value influenced from my ballet training. Third, I hope to always live authentically, meaning if I claim to uphold these values, I should actively make decisions each day that correspond to them.
6. Do you have any advice, encouragement, or an inspirational quote for current or incoming SOHS student-artists?
Email your instructors if you have any questions at all, always take notes in class, engage willingly in these wonderful courses, and find joy in learning for the sake of learning!