Students of Distinction 5: An actor, a pianist and a scientist who bowls

Each year at graduation time, the Greater Gig Harbor Foundation and The Gateway present “Students of Distinction,” profiling 36 graduating seniors who have excelled in scholarship, athletics, the arts or public service. Here are the second four in a series that will continue weekly through June. This feature is made possible by a generous grant from the Greater Gig Harbor Foundation.

Gig Harbor senior is outstanding in music and drama

Oliver Strachen is headed to UCLA this fall, where he’ll study musical theater in the School of Theater, Film and Television. He’s following his dream to “touch people’s hearts through music.”

His interest in music and theater — and his love of performance — began when he was just six years old. His guitar teacher pushed him onto the stage to join a jam playing “Puff the Magic Dragon” at the State Fair. “I was terrified, but his encouragement helped me love performing and also changed how I face adversity.”

Since then, Strachan has performed in numerous plays and sung with a variety of music groups including Meistersingers, the GHHS jazz choir and as lead singer in a jazz and blues band. In fact, at press time, he was performing in his final high school play, playing two characters in “Pride and Prejudice.”

When the pandemic put an abrupt halt to school activities, Strachan was just days away from performing in a play that he and fellow cast members had spent months preparing. “It was a really, really big show and we just suddenly had to let go of it,” he recalled. “We coped with our disappointment by finding peace and staying connected to each other.” Sometimes it was an effort to just get through the day, but understanding that everyone was in the shut-down together, all experiencing similar feelings, made it easier to cope.”

There were also hidden gifts in the pandemic-induced isolation. Virtually, Strachen got to meet theater people in New York, Chicago and other big cities who became mentors. “I got to do a master class with a New York actor who had just finished a play in Broadway, for example,” he said. “I’d never have been able to meet these people if it hadn’t been for the pandemic.”

Of all the things he’s done in high school, the most important, he said, was also the most difficult. A close friend committed suicide, so Strachen started a suicide prevention club that grew to include members in all three local high schools.

Dr. Maria Monroe-DeVita, a long-time family friend who’s an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the UW School of Medicine calls Strachan “a compassionate change-maker with the courage to speak his own truth and help others tell their own stories.”

For his part, Strachen says the secret to success in high school is to remember to be kind. “Too many kids in our generation seem to bond through a mutual dislike of other people. But life isn’t about gossiping and putting-down. It’s about kindness, and finding others who can help you grow and be a better person,” he said.

He also encourages younger students to discover what gives them the most happiness and follow that dream.

“High school is such a melting pot of so many different things and so many possibilities. Don’t be afraid to expose yourself to different ideas. And if you love art — whether it’s music or theater or painting or whatever, give it a try and invest yourself in it. I wish more kids would find the value in the arts.”

Category: Music, Art and Drama

Education: Senior, Gig Harbor High School

GPA: 3.979

Parents: Eric and Jennifer Strachan

Activities/Achievements: AP Scholar Award; AP seminar and research certificate; Competitive speech and debate (lettered); Co-founder of Teen Talk Alliance Club; Varsity tennis; Cast in eight theater productions; Best Supporting Actor in One-Acts; President of Meistersingers Advanced Choir; ABS Senator

Favorite teacher: Choir director Ryan Batcheller, “because he not only supported my love of music and performance but has been a friend that I know I can turn to with anything I’m struggling with. I don’t know where I would be without his unwavering encouragement. If I could achieve a fraction of Mr. Batcheller’s everyday joy, I know I could accomplish anything.”

Best thing about high school: Gig Harbor High School’s extracurricular and arts programs are out of this world! GHHS is a hidden gem when it comes to igniting students’ passions to create and think critically.”

Gig Harbor senior is pianist, scholar and athlete

Paige Everling has always made it her goal to attend a four-year college, so she’s been involved in many kinds of activities throughout her high school career.

She has studied classical piano since elementary school and participated in her first music competition when she was just 10 years old. She’s played in orchestras and chamber music ensembles, performed as a soloist and has an extensive repertoire that includes works by Mozart, Bach, Hayden, Shubert, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Ravel. She has won numerous medals in piano competitions and performed at many fundraising events. It’s not surprising that she was voted “Most Musical” in her GHHS senior class.

Indeed, being able to share her music with others is the thing that’s given her the most satisfaction in high school, and the thing of which she’s proudest. “I’ve been doing piano competitions and recitals for years and years,” she said. “But performing for friends, or my grandparents, or at nursing homes and sharing the joy of music — that’s been the most important thing to me. Music is a language that’s meant to be shared and it really speaks to people deep ways.”

But music hasn’t been her only focus.

In addition to her musical achievements, Everling also earned varsity letters in swimming and water polo and was on the Junior Olympics water polo team in 2019 — all while maintaining a 3.89 GPA.

As it was for her fellow students, when COVID shut everything down, her busy world changed dramatically. Before COVID Everling “was the busiest person I know,” she said. “It was practice, schoolwork, swimming and more practice every day. It all came to a stop with the pandemic.”

The on-line classes were “really weird” she said, “but we all realized that it is what it is and we tried to make the best of it.”

And, also like many other students, Everling realized that the lockdown had hidden gifts. She found new things to do — things that turned out to be just as important as music and sports. She spent lots of time outdoors hiking, skiing and taking long walks. And she spent more time with her family and friends.

Her advice to younger students is to be self-motivated and to set goals for yourself. As long as you have personal goals and inner motivation, you’ll succeed, she said.

This fall, Everling will attend the University of Utah where she’ll study to become a physical therapist. “But I’ll always keep playing music,” she said.

Category: Music, Art and Drama Achievement

Education: Senior, Gig Harbor High School

GPA: 3.89

Parents: Lynne and Scott Everling

Activities / Achievements: National Society of High School Scholars; Academic All American (water polo); PAC 12 Swimming volunteer; four-time varsity swimmer; Junior Olympics Water Polo tournament; USA swimming club; swimming meets — numerous district and regional awards; piano competitions — many local and regional awards; honor recital winner/performer at the Washington and Oregon State Music Teachers conferences

Favorite teacher: Mrs. Wenrich because “she has an inclusive approach to learning while keeping our class positive, friendly and she has an overall great personality.”

Best thing about high school: “I have always loved the Tides mascot. It is symbolic for me with highs and lows of high school but also brings great joy and pride. My friends are kind and inclusive and my swim coach, Mike Kelly, has taught me how to be physically and mentally strong.”

Peninsula senior combines love of science, art and bowling

Riley Schuller is a young woman of many interests and many talents. “I just love learning,” she said. “And I love to try new things.”

That curiosity has led her to take a variety of classes, including things that she didn’t think she’d be interested in. Like history. “I really didn’t think I’d like history, but I like challenges, so I decided to take AP world history because I thought it would be more challenging. And I really liked it.”

And physics. Before she got into high school she didn’t enjoy math — although it wasn’t hard for her — and she “absolutely hated science.” A boring ninth-grade math class and a biology class confirmed her dislike of those subjects. So in her sophomore year she decided to take physics, thinking it would be easier than some other classes. That class, and its remarkable instructor, changed her life and her career goals. This fall she’ll attend the University of Puget Sound to major in physics.

But in addition to excelling in the left-brain world of science, Schuller also has developed a love of art, especially stained glass and ceramics. She served as Art Club president for two years and even worked as an apprentice to a local ceramic artist. Through her mother, she got involved with the Two Waters Arts Alliance on the Key Peninsula. “It’s so much fun to go hang out with older women who make art and drink wine together,” she said with a laugh.

And then there’s Schuller’s athletic side. She earned four varsity letters in bowling and was captain of the PHS girls bowling team in her sophomore, junior and senior years.

Coping with COVID restrictions was an interesting experience, she said. She was in Running Start and spent a whole year doing only on-line classes, because there were no in-person classes. “It wasn’t too difficult, but I made the mistake of taking a very hard civics class at the beginning of the pandemic. It really pushed my limits, but I loved the class and was able to get an A-minus,” she said.

She credits her parents with supporting her in all her endeavors. They weren’t pushy, but they always just “expected me to do good work and maintain my capabilities.”

Of all the things she’s done at PHS her favorite has been working within the school’s friendly, supportive environment. “I thought there’d be lots of cliques,” she said, “but people are really kind. And there’s no one that really don’t like.”

Her biggest contribution has been to be strongly involved in her activities, like becoming president of the Art Club and captain of the bowling team. “I love being in those environments so I wanted to be there and push myself to a higher level and make a real contribution,” she said. She has also been helpful to other students who might be struggling to understand complex math or science concepts, according to her teachers.

Schuller’s goal, when she completes her physics studies at UPS, is to design roller coasters, she said (with her tongue placed firmly in her cheek). “Or else I’ll be a physics professor.”

Category: Science and Technology

Education: Senior, Peninsula High School

GPA: 3.942

Parents: Chris and Sharla Schuller

Activities / Achievements: Scholar Athlete, Bowling; Athlete of the Month; District Bowling Championship; Girls Bowling Captain; Honor Roll; National Honor Society; Art Club president; College level classes in precalculus, calculus, engineering graphics and physics

Favorite teacher: Mr. Newton. “He’s the reason I want to get into physics and showed me how amazing math and science could really be. His class was not only fun and engaging, but he made sure we walked away every day learning something new. He wanted to turn our boring equations a little more interesting and he always went out of his way to show us how amazing physics can be. I have to thank him for pushing me to explore the wonders of our world through physics.”

Best thing about high school: “the opportunities. At PHS we have a drawing/painting class, glass art class and ceramics class. That’s not even going into the performing and photography arts … and much more. After school we have tons of clubs to consider and many more sports to choose from. Our high school as so many directions to take.”