by: Siyona Singhal
Humor Editor

Through guitar and theater, junior SJ Eoff is turning his passions into priorities, dedicating his time to the things he truly loves.

Eoff is taking a diverse course load, including Guitar 1, one of his favorite classes. Despite his initial hesitation about taking Guitar 1 after playing guitar for a few years, his friends persuaded him when they said they would be in the class as well. Eoff’s favorite part about the class is “just playing guitar, and I really love the teacher [Thad Smith].” Eoff started learning guitar the summer before freshman year: “I was really into, like, Morgan Wallen. I asked for an acoustic guitar for my fourteenth birthday because I wanted to play the songs that I liked that he made.” However, within six months, Eoff began to lean towards rock, punk, and metal music, which is the majority of what he plays now. One of his favorite bands to play is Bullet For My Valentine because “they have a lot of technical riffs which push me to try harder to play them. It makes me better because I play harder stuff.”

In addition to his love of guitar, Eoff participates in theater with his friends. He enjoys participating in school plays and musicals, but is also part of a company outside of school called Stage Presence. Eoff started there as he was entering high school, drawn to it because “I had a friend who was already in theater, and I had seen a couple of their musicals. I stopped, and thought, ‘Wow, it would be very cool to be on stage.’” Eoff has been in many productions, his favorite being Little Shop of Horrors, where he played Seymour Krelborn. Eoff leans towards musicals as opposed to straight plays but commented, “I love singing, I love acting, and I do it with friends. It’s always fun, no matter what.” Currently, Eoff is looking forward to the school spring musical Hadestown, in which he is part of the ensemble and the understudy for Hades. Eoff explained that his favorite part about theater is “the process. I just like having fun with friends throughout the rehearsal process, and the performing part is also really fun. I enjoy being on stage.”

Eoff’s parting advice is simple: “Do things that you enjoy, and you’ll find more about yourself. High school is all about finding out who you are. Be yourself!” By balancing academics with his artistic pursuits, Eoff shows that high school isn’t just about building a résumé; it’s about discovering what makes you feel most alive and chasing it wholeheartedly.