Afraid of commitment
While doing it all, Vivian Polgreen ’23 looks to find a passion
Starting high school is an exciting experience: a time to find new hobbies, start new clubs and even start thinking about what you want to do later in life. For Polgreen, finding a passion is something she is looking for in the next couple of years.
On the flip side, beginning high school can also be overwhelming: making adjustments to the larger building, crowded hallways and increased workload. Polgreen starts her freshman year with a full schedule, and while the workload adjustment may be difficult for some, Polgreen feels she has already adjusted. “We’re only three weeks in so it’s kind of difficult to do, but it feels like I’ve been doing it forever,” Polgreen said.
Along with her busy academic load, Polgreen has also started to try sports, this year doing cross country. While she doesn’t enjoy running much, she enjoys the idea of being apart of a team or community.
In addition to cross country, rowing has been a sport she enjoyed during her spring break. “It’s totally different from all sports. It’s the only sport I’ve ever played, where you actually sit down, which is really nice,” Polgreen said.
Playing three instruments, piano, cello and ukulele, music has been prominent in her life. Polgreen started cello in fifth grade and has played the piano since she was four years old.
“My mom wanted me to do [piano and cello]. Because apparently, it’s like, good to play an instrument…good for your mind,” Polgreen said.
On the other hand, the ukulele was something she did for fun in her free time, “It was like something that I did with my mom. We would go to lessons together, and then we would practice together, and that was really fun, just like, me and my mom…it was great” Polgreen said.
Outside of school, Vivian enjoys trips with her youth church group, ETC (Eternally Trusting Christ). Building some of her favorite memories, being apart of a community is another quality that makes this group special to her. “It’s an open club,” Polgreen said, “It’s just fun.”
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But all in all, balancing all these things can be difficult. “I’m trying to do all these things. I don’t have time to do all these things. I feel like I need to pick one or two things I do really well instead of just doing everything.” Polgreen said.
In spite of the difficulty, Polgreen’s friends and family believe she has the qualities to make it manageable. “Vivian is a very smart, hardworking person,” Vivian’s close friend, Helenipa Stephens ’23 said, “She starts something and usually finishes it.”
With the increasing societal pressure of planning for the future, Polgreen feels the need to find something that she can stick with forever. Nonetheless, she has never found anything that has clicked, “I don’t know. I feel like maybe I just haven’t found the right thing yet. There are just so many things in life. And I’ve just never come across things where I’m like, this is all so great. I could do this forever” Polgreen said.
“I’m looking for some absolutely perfect thing. And maybe there is no absolutely perfect thing,” Polgreen said.
In the end, she is optimistic about it. She feels as though she has plenty of time to work on finding something that she enjoys. For now, testing the waters is good enough.