Photos courtesy of Katie Thrun
Dr. Lora Thrun and Katie Thrun exploring Alaska with their family.
Katie Thrun is a polite, soft-spoken Grove City High School sophomore, but her loud actions prove she’ll make big strides in life.
Thrun is music-minded, having played piano since second grade. She picked up percussion in sixth grade because it’s quite similar to piano since the keys lift hammers inside and strike strings to make its sound.
Thrun plays percussion in the GCHS marching and symphonic bands, and participates in an honors band at Capital University called Columbus Youth Symphonic Band. If that weren’t enough, she plans on touring Europe with the American Music Abroad program, which takes students all around the world to perform. She was, not surprisingly, recommended for the program because of her skill and talent.
“It seemed like a really great thing to do,” Thurn says humbly.
One would assume performing in dozens of cathedrals in foreign cities would arouse a bit of nerves, but Thrun says she’s so accustomed to music that she doesn’t really think about getting anxious anymore.
“I’ve been doing it for so long,” she says. “I just go out there and do it.”
While the world is her oyster and she has plenty of time to dream new aspirations and goals, she hopes to one day write soundtracks to movies. She enjoys musicals, and cites Wicked as one of her favorites.
Though many stereotypes suggest that musically inclined individuals have one-track minds, Thrun is also an athlete. She’s on the GCHS varsity golf team, and began playing at a young age since she comes from a golf-loving family.
“It takes a lot of focus,” she says.
Quite opposite from a sunny afternoon on the par three, Thrun also loves skiing and does so with her family on adventurous vacations mostly in North America.
“I’ve been skiing since I was 4,” she says nonchalantly.
For a student with such a long list of accomplishments and a busy schedule, her even-keeled attitude is enviable. It inspires one to believe that the younger generation may have something figured out that we don’t – perhaps it begins with the sole piece of advice she offers.
“I’d tell people who want to achieve their goals to just not stress out so much,” she says.
Thrun points to her mother, Lora, as a role model for her drive and demeanor, which makes sense after reading the Faces article. With so much modern-day stress, her calm collectedness is like music to my ears. And as her travels begin, the rest of the world will hear it too.
5 Effective Stress Relievers
- When you hug a loved one, oxytocin is released in your body, which is associated with higher levels of happiness and reduces stress signals.
- Looking at fractals (repeating similar or identical patterns) is proven to take your mind off stress. Research shows that observing patterns such as ocean waves, snowflakes, swirls and more produces a calming effect in the brain.
- The last thing you want to do when you’re anxious is clean – but experts claim repetitive motions like ironing, sweeping or folding laundry induce a relaxing feeling in some individuals.
- A study published in HortTechnology found that simply walking into a room filled with plants will lower your heart rate and blood pressure. The same study found that just looking at pictures of greenery for 10 minutes can increase cognitive function.
- This one’s not so surprising – spending time with dogs can ease anxiety and depression and lower blood pressure.
Mallory Arnold is an associate editor. Feedback welcome at marnold@cityscenemediagroup.com.
