Female Student of the Month for October, Sam Palahnuk has always had a passion for playing soccer. “I started to play soccer when I’ve was about five years old, and I loved it ever since,” Palahnuk stated. Palanuk is not just involved with the school team, but also plays club soccer for Go Soccer FC in Bridgewater throughout the winter and spring.
More than just an athlete, she is also an avid artist and musician. Palahnuk said, “I have been playing piano since I was five.” She is currently working on Chopin’s “Fantaisie Impromptu.”
Palahnuk has been making art for almost as long as she can remember. Her earliest memory is from when she was in preschool, when she remembers watching a fourth grader “map out and draw faces.” She began to copy her techniques. After ‘tons of practice,” she realized that her work “stood out from her classmates.”
Palahnuk works even harder now perfecting her art. She says she spends “ 15-20 hours a week with my pencils and paints.” This work is not a chore for her, because she finds it a “it’s a therapeutic and relaxing process.”
When Palahnuk is not playing soccer or making a new drawing, she is dedicated to helping her community. She has been avidly involved in her girl scout troop since she was in third grade. She is currently working on achieving her Gold Award.
Her Gold Award is focusing on something close to her heart, Which is the “emotional aspects of making art and how it can be a stress reliever and a way to escape from one’s day to day life.”
In the summer, she created a workshop for students third through eighth grade who shared her passion for art. She taught them the basics of portraiture, color and design, landscape, still life, and critiquing within a week. The workshop was “a success,” and Palahnuk believes “their work was fantastic, and I feel several of the students felt they had newfound talents In art and had become confident in their work.”
The summer workshop was only the beginning of her project. She is currently working with art therapy programs. Palahnuk is running an art collection drive at North. The purpose of the drive is to “collect gently used art supplies to donate to the Warren County Sexual Assault Center to benefit their art therapy program.” Palahnuk’s drive will end on December 18 with an art show hosted by National Art Honors Society (NAHS) and Amnesty International. She is excited for this event because, “NAHS Is raising awareness against domestic violence, and the show is about finding comfort.”
Palahnuk keeps her extracurriculars and schoolwork balanced. She is very dedicated to her classes. Some of the most challenging, but interesting classes she has taken are BC Calculus and AP Drawing. A few of the teachers who have inspired and pushed her during her years at North have been Mr. Steve Halldorson of the Math Department and Mr. Ralph Calabrese of the Art Department.
Palahnuk, like many other seniors, is not yet positive on what she wants to do after graduation, but she has a pretty good idea. Her top college right now is TCNJ. This is because “they have both an excellent biology program and art program.” She is currently planning on majoring in biology and minoring in Spanish and studio art. Since Palahnuk has so many different interests, she is keeping her plans flexible.