Hobbies

ADDIE GAUDET

During quarantine. I learned a lot about the fast fashion industry,” Addie Gaudet said. “And that’s what I want to do with my major and my life.” “ While in quarantine Gaudet discovered her love for fashion. According to The Ladders more than 70% of people in quarantine watched tv shows and movies. She’s transitioned to thrifting and making her own clothes. Although Gaudet is new to thrifting and the fashion industry she’s already trying and making new apparel. “I’m not very good at making my own clothes, but I try my best. I’ve made a few things that I really like. I’ve made a few bags and stuff like that,” Gaudet said. Gaudet has upcoming apparel and models she’s working on currently. With prom on the way many seniors rent or buy dresses and tuxes, but Gaudet has a different approach. She will be making and thrifting her very own prom dress. “I finished the final product of the skirt for my dress,” Gaudet said. “But basically, I just started with some cheap fabric and made my model and made the pattern. It’s just a lot of repetition, practice and trying to get it perfect.” In a span 5 years almost 1.9 million are employed into the fast fashion industry. The fashion industry is loaded with designers Gaudet seeks to keep her fashion hobby going while attending Virginia Tech next school year. “I’m planning on having an environmental resource management major with hopefully either a double major or minor in fashion design,” Gaudet said.

Aself-taught enterprising senior with global experience, passion, and a budding business: meet Neo Becerra-Ramirez, “DJ Neo,” who transferred to HIES in his freshman year. Ramirez began playing the piano when he was four years old. His love for music took on another form when he was introduced to a deejaying app on an iPad, “I started there and I’ve grown myself and my business for many years.” Because his parents were originally reluctant to invest in expensive sound equipment, he gradually supported himself by building up digital apparatus through income from gigs and now has carved out a place for himself on the Atlanta deejay scene. Whether it’s a Bat Mitzvah, private party, or even a wedding, every crowd has its own taste in music. “The thing about deejaying is analyzing the crowd,” Ramirez said. “So whatever song you play, if the crowd doesn’t like it, then you know...that type of genre or that type of song, they don’t like.” One of his greatest struggles has been COVID-19. Though the pandemic has brought Ramirez’s fledgling business to a grinding halt, he turned to social media as an outlet to showcase his musical talent. “I saw other DJs doing live streams...so I started doing live streams and people liked it.” Ramirez continues to keep a positive attitude and is looking forward to attending Georgia State University in the fall. He will major in biology with aspirations of becoming a general surgeon in the future.

HOBBIES

Neo Becerra-Ramirez

ANDREW KELLER

Andrew Keller is a man of many interests. But when asked what his most favorite hobby was, his face lit up. “I first started rowing in seventh grade after my mom gave me a book called ‘Boys of the Boat,” Keller said. “And then I just fell in love with the sport.”

As the coxswain, Keller has many responsibilities as the constant voice of reassurance to his fellow crew members. “I am kind of the captain or leader of our team,” Keller said. When something goes wrong, such as a snake climbing into the boat, Keller must remain calm and lead his crew. “We were halfway down the river when someone from the back yelled up to me that there was something in the boat,” Keller said. “I think it was kind of surreal because nothing like that had ever happened to us.”

It’s because of the bonds that Keller has formed with his team that allows him to be so successful. “I’ve known most of these. People since seventh grade,” Keller said. It’s a really close community, especially because in rowing, teamwork really does matter, and if one person is off, the whole team is off.”

As Keller heads off to Washington D.C. to further his academic career at George Washington University studying international affairs, it is likely that one would find him rowing down the Potomac River early on a Saturday morning as the sun rises. “It’s really the most relaxing and unique thing,” Keller said.

When you read about historical events through the eyes of a character, they suddenly become more than just dates,” Abbie Reams said. “You understand the impacts of what these events had on people’s lives.”

Historical fiction has allowed Reams to explore her passions for both reading and writing. Her first work of storytelling beyond a school assignment was an alternative ending she composed for the historical fiction novel My Brother Sam Is Dead. Many seventh graders read the story in their English classes, and her peers preferred Reams’ conclusion to the novel over the story’s original ending. Her friends’ enthusiastic support encouraged her to continue writing, and Reams now aspires for a career as a writer, editor, or publisher.

Reams’ desire to write emerged from her love of reading. As a lower school student, learning to read with dyslexia presented various challenges. She attended the Schenck School in third grade and finished the entire Harry Potter series during her time there.

“[Finishing Harry Potter] was kind of like overcoming the mountain,” Reams said. “That’s kind of the first series that opened my eyes to what you could read… it awoke my imagination, and my love of writing kind of unfurled out of that.”

Reams credits her English teacher Dr. Christopher Swann for cementing her desire to make a career with her writing. She recalls one class during which Dr. Swann held a copy of his new book: “He looked at the class and he goes, ‘You know, dreams really do happen.’”

“Be open to what comes next for you. You may be heading in one direction and then life brings you another that might be a good thing.” -Natalie Cane