Eureka High School provides a plethora of opportunities for students to release their creative energy into different clubs and classes, but even so, some students’ talents go unnoticed to their peers.
Spending time on these skills has helped students find out how to express themselves in new ways. Since some hobbies or activities are more well known than others, those hidden talents are sometimes overlooked.
Stephen Shaji, senior, is very involved with the Wildcat Pride Band, being a drum major for marching band and a tenor player
for concert and jazz band. What not everyone sees is that he also enjoys playing the piano, and uses this ability to play music in a way that reflects himself.
“The way I play piano isn’t reading sheet music or anything, I just play what comes to my ear,” Shaji said. “I have so much fun just messing around and listening to new songs and trying to play them back. I play for my church, and I’m not reading sheet music, I’m listening, and this kind of allows me to express myself through my music.”
The fun behind everyone’s talents are sometimes the fact that it isn’t always perfect, and it gives each student more authenticity with their craft, giving them more chances to explore their flairs.
“It came fairly naturally to me, but art isn’t something that you can perfect completely,” Lily Hollenbeck, senior, said. “I spend a lot of time just sketching ideas and the ‘boring’ parts of art like body anatomy or studying color theory. Outside of that, an actual painting takes a lot of time, and even just from piece to piece I learn a lot because they all present unique challenges and opportunities.”
Students also get multiple chances to display their talents, such as the bands annual Craft Fair fundraiser. Sarah Myerscough, senior, uses their ability to crochet to make various stuffed animals for shoppers to buy as gifts for others, or for themselves.
“What sparked crochet was just my love for crafts,” Myerscough said. “I have always been a crafty kid and I would finger knit a lot. So I decided to try crochet.”
Even though students can make their skills seem easy, there is always a beginning to the hobby that we don’t see.
“A lot of people think I am naturally good just because I’ve been doing it for so long, however I really struggled to learn,” Myerscough said. “My first few projects consisted of daisy chains, loose stitches, and wonky squares. I would watch crochet tutorials and crochet TikToks for fun. One day I was watching a crochet TikToks compilation, studying the hand movements of the crocheter, when it just clicked. As soon as I went home I picked up my hook and yarn and it suddenly made sense. I still had to learn the different stitches and how to read a pattern and that took a while but I had the basics down. The one thing that gets people the most when trying to crochet is they quit because ‘they can’t do it’. You have to persevere and you can’t quit.”
Shaji has also used his skills to teach 10 minute piano lessons to kids at his church for free as a part of his leadership application for band. Piano is a very difficult instrument to play, and can take years to master, but he believes it is very worth it to be able to play music that has meaning to you.
“Honestly, at the very beginning I didn’t really like [piano] and kind of hated it cause the lessons were so stressful and I didn’t practice. But then I kind of moved away from the lessons and started doing things on my own and trying to teach myself,” Shaji said. “That’s when I started really getting into it.”
After getting acclimated with your ability, some difficulties don’t magically disappear, but you also find that lots of aspects are easier too.
“I can’t read sheet music so I feel like that’s probably the hardest part. But the way I play piano is I just play for fun. I’m not trying to show off or anything,” Shaji said. “At the beginning trying to hear melodies and trying to put that on piano was hard but now it just clicks.”
Having a skill to put your energy to inside and outside of school can benefit your mental health by expressing emotions or feelings in ways that are sometimes simpler than words.
“Painting is very beneficial for my mental health,” Hollenbeck said. “I’m the type of person to get stressed easily, so having something relaxing I know I can do at any time is helpful. Painting allows me to have a creative outlet that I can express my feelings through. Plus, at some stages of bigger projects I can do things that don’t require much deep thinking and that gives me the opportunity to relax and not use so much brain power.”
