Lauren Pauli, Freshman, Derby Star   

Lauren Pauli is a freshman who last April, started competing in Roller Derby. She plays with the Southern Oregon Rollergirls in a junior division known as the Pear Blossoms (which has no correlation to the race or festival). For those who don’t know, Roller Derby is a sport in which each team has an offense, a defense, and a jammer. During the game, all of these players circle a track and it is the jammer’s job to score points. Points are scored when the jammer passes through the opposing team’s defense.

“No one has hurt feelings and we don’t hold grudges, because it’s just part of the game,” said Pauli after being asked about the aggressiveness of the sport. Getting a black eye in a bout is considered a rite of passage among the girls and even though Pauli hasn’t gotten one yet, she definitely intends to.

“Derby shatters stereotypes, and it doesn’t matter who you are at school.”

Julia Laurenson, Freshman, Actress

Say hello to Julia Laurenson a freshman at Ashland high School, and an actress in Ashland High’s new musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.She’s been acting in school plays since she was little. At 10 years, old she got her first part  in an OSF production. She’s been at OSF for a total of five seasons. She was an understudy for Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird, as well as an understudy in Medea Macbeth Cinderella. Being the understudy for scout was her favorite part because she liked how innocent Scout was in such a dark world. “Acting is something I really enjoys doing,” She said.

In AHS’s upcoming play, the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Laurenson is playing one of the main roles as a shy girl, whose only friend is her dictionary. Her mom is on a spiritual journey in India and her dad works long hours. When is asked about details by a prying friend, she simply remarked, “Just shush and come see the play.”

Gabe Dryer, Freshman, Tubist

Dryer can play the tuba like no other. He began playing in sixth grade, starting a journey that he hopes will last throughout high school and beyond. Dryer chose tuba because it was cool looking, and because it’s a commonly overlooked instrument. Four years later, he is still happy with his decision. “The case is pretty heavy,” Dryer admits during the interview “The tuba weighs about 10 pounds out of the case and right around 40 inside the case”.

One of the major upsides to playing the tuba is that because so few people choose it, many companies and colleges are willing to provide scholarships for tuba players if they play with their symphonies and bands. Dryer is planning on playing the tuba after high school as well.

Parkour (Parker) Richmond, Sophomore, You Guess

Parkour Richmond is a sophomore at Ashland High School, and, as his name suggests, he does Parkour. When Richmond  first gained interest in Parkour, it was because his friend Nick had stolen his backpack. After failing to catch Nick because of his wicked skills, Richmond decided to ask his friend to teach him Parkour. Now, two years later, Richmond can do what his friend Nick did that day, and quite frankly, he’s pretty good at it. He says that he learned a lot of what he knows from Nick, as well as experimenting with new ideas by himself. He also takes classes at the YMCA because it’s pretty safe environment to practice and perfect tricks.

Richmond want put it out there that “Parkour isn’t just about being stupid and trespassing everywhere, it’s really about doing what you love and experiencing the sickest locations even if it may not technically be legal.”

Carson Barry, Sophomore, Singer/songwriter

Carson Barry has been singing and writing songs since she was nine. The Sophomore can play multiple instruments, including the guitar, ukulele, piano, recorder, and a little bit of banjo. Barry enjoys writing music and her music is often featured in the band that Barry and two of her peers, Liam Keith and Kayla Fennell, have formed. Barry describes her music as a singer/songwriter genre with a serious note.

“Whenever I write a song, it’s always rainy,” Barry explains.

Barry usually doesn’t  name her songs, but one of the songs that she has written she is considering calling ‘Mother’. Barry’s favourite bands include Blind Pilot and Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes. On top of playing in her band, Barry performs in downtown Ashland, and occasionally she performs at open mics. Barry is unsure if she wants to go into the profession of singing, but she is sure that she will always sing as a hobby.

Peyton Fuller, Sophomore, Universal Athlete

Peyton Fuller is a sophomore at Ashland High School who recently moved to Ashland from Arkansas. He plays not one, not two, but three sports for the school. This year alone, he played varsity on AHS’s baseball and basketball team and he was a swing player for our football team. Fuller started showing interest in sports at a young age and he played every sport that he could.  Although he does so many sports, Fuller still manages to juggle his extracurriculars and his academics. Baseball alone takes place every day except for Sundays. Games for baseball are usually on Tuesdays and on Saturdays. Fuller’s team has double headers. The season has been going well for the baseball team, with them only giving up one loss, and having nine wins. Fuller’s favorite positions for his sports are shortstop for baseball and shooting guard for basketball.

“I’m lucky because all of my sports happen in different seasons and they rarely overlap unless one of my teams goes to state.” Said Fuller.

Mel Elshalom, Junior, Artist

Mel Elshalom is a Junior at Ashland High School. Elshalom is an amazingly talented artist. His style is a mixture of abstract, graffiti, and freestyle, with images made out of a patchwork of words and color. Elshalom’s signature look is a colourful array of shapes and words, and he sometimes does portraits.

Elshalom always makes sure to incorporate a flower in his pieces in remembrance of a friend of his that passed away. Elshalom started painting as an alternative to doing graffiti, which is illegal.  He doesn’t have a specific mood or tone to his art, each and every individual piece of his art has is different and diverse. Elshalom likes to make up the piece as he goes, adding to it when he feels fit. He never knows what he’s going to draw until he starts

“In class people say that my art is psychodelic, it’s also kind of a cartoon too.” said Elshalom.

Mischa Kirby, Junior, Tennis Star

Mischa Kirby is a junior at Ashland High School, and is an extraordinary tennis player. Kirby has been playing tennis since he was three. When he was younger, Kirby’s dad would give him a racketball racket because he was too small to carry a regulation size tennis racket, and Kirby would practice with it until he could finally handle a full sized racket. Present day, Kirby practices tennis every day, and he has a match about every weekend. Kirby said that if he does go to college, he will want to play tennis. Kirby’s best memory is about his coach, Mr. Streng.

“Mr. Streng is awesome” Kirby said.

At the beginning of the year, Mr. Streng promised whoever won a match in practice, a car. The next day, Streng held true to his promise and brought toy cars for the winners (Mischa and Rox).

“(Tennis) is a lot of fun to play, the people who aren’t interested in having fun probably shouldn’t play” He said jokingly.

Tristan Ferris, Senior, Actor

Tristan Ferris, a senior at Ashland High School has only been acting since sophomore year, and is excellent at it.  He has been in multiple plays including Our Town, and he was in the Tech Crew for Midsummers Night Dream. Ferris is also playing a part in Ashland High’s upcoming musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His part is the sarcastic word pronouncer in the play and he is very excited about it. There is a lot of work that needs to be put into producing a play. Each day Ferris spends almost 5 hours in the theatre, split into rehearsal,  learning new lines, and even more practice.

The theatre program is amazing at AHS, and this is because of how hard the participants are expected to work. Ferris knows this well, and as he explains “Opening night is always really exciting because everything is finally coming together.”

Ferris is hoping to go to college for criminology, but he is sure that he will still act on the side.

“I’ve always dreamed of playing a really awesome supervillain,” he said.

Lillian Huang, Senior, Math Genius

Lilian Huang is a member of AHS’s Math Team and has won third overall best mathlete in Southern Oregon for the school year 2014-15. Over the five total meets of the season, Huang has scored the third highest number of points of the students on math teams. There are four events per meet, three individuals and one team event. One receives at most ten points in an individual and a total of five points in the team competition. Math Team is a selective team where one either is asked to participate in, or has to take a test to qualify for a spot.

Huang is taking AP Calculus her senior year and is planning on either going to Oregon State University Honors College or the University of Oregon Honors College.Huang wants to go into  Anesthesiology when she graduates. Anesthesiologists are in charge of administering the drugs that put patients under during surgeries. This job requires a great deal of skill in both math and science, two subjects that Huang excels at.