e d i R e h T Embracing I
t’s the middle of the day and the sky is a light blue brushstroke filled with vibrant and fluffy clouds. Rays of sunlight leak across the heavenly green Hollister mountains and onto the dirt road that divides them. On one side of the path, the hill continues upwards, ascending towards the sky, while the other is a steep slope falling into an oblivion, with nothing but a foot of shrubs to keep any unlucky person from fall-
A Documentary about Kylie Huch
ing off. In the distance lay a depth of dreamy canyons stretching as far as the eye can see. It’s quiet, the wind whispers through the shrubs, and the songs of birds echo from the trees. In the distance, the sound of gears is rapidly becoming more and more audible. A girlish figure on a mountain bike appears from on top of the hill, charging straight through the path. She gets closer and closer, kicking up dust, and every creature
in a 100 foot radius scatters away from the sound. Her feet pedal faster and faster. The wind pulls her hair away from her light blue eyes as she accelerates, completely transfixed on the road lying ahead of her. The ramps are small at first, but get bigger and bigger until at one point she catches air, riding through the sky for a few blissful, free seconds. She hits the ground once again, this time going even faster. By Daniela Chavez Preciado
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ince this project started, Kylie has become a peer tutor, designed and sold 3 boards to skateworks, chartered a new club called the heifer club foundation, and managed to stay on track with schoolwork. All of which i’ve found out first hand with a confused look on my face, Kylie however, always seems to be more concerned with what her next order of business is, and if i could say one thing about her it would be that It is almost as impossible to tell you all the cool things she does with her time as it is too keep up with her fast paced day by day life. Starting from the beginning, or at least how far back she can remember, kylie has been single handedly fighting off dyslexia on top of her disorganization and focus issues, and all on her own Kylie has won the race, driven purely by her very own unique individuality.
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ne friday afternoon i was sitting with her in study skills class, before she had decided to become a peer tutor during that period. As routined she was wearing an animal onesie, this week it was a giraffe and like every friday she didn’t seem to take into account what the people around her were thinking. Her light blond hair was tied up in a messy bun as usual, accompanied by her reflective orange sunglasses. As we were discussing the days she would be free to be profiled, two other high school students came through the door and told her they were ready for her. “I’ll be right back i have to go do an interview” Before i could ask her what for and how come she hadn’t given me a heads up, kylie had left the room, her orange tail swinging a couple inches off the ground as she disappeared out the doors. It felt like days before she finally came back in, right away i asked her what the
interview was for, she told me she had just chartered a new club called the heifer foundation, and that they were going to write an article about it on the school’s news paper. This Isn’t the first time kylie has left me with my jaw on the floor, a couple days later i walked into the tutorial center during that same period looking for a text book and i find kylie being handed a name tag by mrs. Nugyen, “Whats this?” i asked “Oh i’’ve decided to become a peer tutor now”.
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ylie’s dyslexia may make it hard for her to read, or keep her in at lunch to finish a simple math problem, but it also allows her to be extremely creative and artistic. She enjoys graphic design and drawing so much that she already has made a career for herself in the industry, designing and selling skateboards to the skateworks store in los altos.
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At first i really wanted to do shirts or hats or something i really actually wanted to do socks, but that requires a bunch of expensive fancy equipment so i ended up going on ebay and just finding these ten dollar blank skateboards and i could draw right on them!” In the beginning she had been considering the name hybrid republic as her logo since she loves to mix and match various animals together to form new creatures. I asked her what inspired her artwork and to my surprise she told me that she doesn’t actually know what inspires her artwork. “like i’ll be staring at clouds or leaves and then my brain will just make a pattern out of it and i’ll be like that is awesome i am drawing that or at least right it down so i dont forget it, but mostly they just pop into my head i’ll just be walking along one day then im like… A bearsnake, yes!.” It was in Ap Psychology when Kylie decided
on the name Lucid Boards for her company logo. When kylie gets down to it, she usually brings out her skateboard to the center of her colorful circular rug, along with her colored sharpie markers, with fast paced techno music in the background, kylie completely gets into her zone and can stay there for hours. “It was perfect as soon as i knew they started selling, it was just crazy! ” ylie’s first memory of feeling the rush of adrenaline dates back to when she was 5, her grandpa had let her ride one of his tiny
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Honda 50 dirt bikes, for the first time by herself rather than on the back with her dad driving. “I was on there and i just kept giving it more speed, i kept going faster and faster and faster, and i just, i don’t know i just felt like i was invincible like i could go anywhere”. Since then kylie’s been catching speed every chance she gets, whether it’s dirtbiking, mountain biking, surfing, longboarding, roller skating, or simply jumping down her stairs. It was in 7th grade that kylie found out she had dyslexia.
“When i was diagnosed what i thought was, how did no one find out before? everything just made so much sense and It explained so much that i was kind of mind blown.” - Kylie
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while ago kylie decided she wanted to get into the chicken business. Her dad recalls on the story very simply. “She made me take her to home depot, and we got all kinds of lumber, she had downloaded a design on the internet and we went and we got alot of lumber and with almost no help from me she did the whole thing so if you look at the chicken pen out there its kylie all the way and she did an amazing job. +0 without even asking us for help she made it herself, so if you see the chicken pen out there that is 100% kylie, and its pretty awesome”
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ylie’s views on having dyslexia are pretty clear, she states
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If i could choose i still wouldnt give up dyslexia, now i know that its actually brain wiring and that i probably would be missing alot of the stuff that makes me me if i got rid of it i would never trade that i love doing art and being creative and not being able to spell im fine with that, thats not an important life skill and i can take half an hour longer than other people reading, whatever.”
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here do i see kylie going in the future? I see her speeding off into new things, and never looking back.
**The drawing above and all background Illustrations were done by Kylie Huch prior to this project