Senior Sophie Hartl joined sports for the ice cream. Or rather the image of the ice cream.

She was never the one on the soccer or baseball field—in fact, she often ran away from the ball if it ever got close to her. Instead, Sophie was content inside, drawing and painting her imagination away. 

But she saw the image of a team going out to ice cream and bonding over little moments, and she felt a longing to be a part of it. After trying many different sports like gymnastics, volleyball, swimming, and soccer, Sophie discovered lacrosse. Her little brother had been playing it for a few years after their neighbor introduced it to them, her dad signed her up for a clinic, and she “immediately fell in love.”

For many sports, Sophie may have felt behind by the time she joined lacrosse in fifth grade, but given the older nature of the sport and her connection through her brother and neighbor, she didn’t feel out of place at all. 

“Lacrosse is a sport,” Sophie said, “unlike many, that is not as popular and allows people to pick it up later in life and not have to have played since birth. This was a large reason I was able to stick with it, and I also wasn’t half bad when I started because I had had some practice playing in the backyard.” 

Along with the excitement of finding a sport she wasn’t afraid of and was good at, she also found the ice cream and community she was longing for within her team. 

She became such good friends with her lacrosse team that she eventually joined field hockey as well—a sport most lacrosse players pick up for staying active in the off-season. 

“I just love all of the people on the teams,” Sophie said. “And for lacrosse and field hockey, up until my sophomore year—for lacrosse at least—they were a combined team with Northern and Eastern, so I loved being able to create those friendships with people outside of my school, so that was a cool part for me. All the girls are super nice, so that’s kind of the biggest thing for me.”

Beyond the community of her team, Sophie finds joy in the game and the challenge. But this isn’t the only thing she challenges herself in. Academics are also a very important part of her life. 

“I’m pretty well-rounded,” Sophie said. “I have good success in academics and athletics and a good social life, and I feel like I’m just kind of proud of my accomplishments in academics and athletics.”

Her coursework has consisted of mainly core classes, even into her junior and senior years where more freedom is given in the schedule. 

She has always been focused on her future, but that’s not the only thing Sophie is looking for in a class. She also searches for ways to work her brain and give it a challenge to conquer. 

“A lot of my classes have come from what colleges want to see,” Sophie said. “I’ve had a lot of academic rigor in my schedule. I do like to challenge myself a lot with classes because I like to see myself do well when I’m challenged.”

Through her grueling routine of homework, practice, homework, and sleep, one may think it’s difficult for Sophie to find time to hang out with her friends, but she finds the time to do it all.

“I save my social life for the weekends,” Sophie said, “because there’s more time on the weekends for that, and I’m pretty much go, go, go [during the week]. I don’t really have a lot of downtime in my life, but I think that’s kind of what makes me thrive.”

Sophie finds herself in constant movement—whether that means the literal sense on the field or the sense of never having downtime, but she wouldn’t want it any other way. And from her first time forming the ice cream community in her sport to her high school-self, Sophie revels in the family of her friends. 

“I’m considered an ambivert,” Sophie said, “which is like I’m not an introvert, but I’m not an extrovert either, but definitely the social aspect of my life has been a big part of me. Weekends are what I thrive on—they’re what get me through the week, just like the prospect of me being able to hang out with my friends on the weekends. My friends are definitely a big part of my life—they make me who I am.”