Julian Fernandez

Julian hopes to carry his intuitive, buoyant personality throughout all his trials and tribulations.

Where rivalries unfold with a formulaic undertone, power plays and penalty kills materialize as deliberate points of attack, and every fleeting moment of the three-period brawl that is ice hockey feels precisely intentional, tuning into the Fall kickoff of the National Hockey League (NHL)—a mere hobby for many—is more than just simple spectating for senior Julian Fernandez; for him, this pastime is a gateway to methodicalness.

“I became a big fan of the NHL because of an unnatural fixation with it,” Julian said. “I don’t know where it came from, but it was just intriguing to me to understand the players and teams and rivalries. It just felt like a big puzzle and a new expanse of knowledge to explore. I started getting into it and similarly liked the idea of gaining knowledge about sports.”

Julian’s love for the craftsmanship of ice hockey, a pastime that came to fruition in his early childhood, revolves around an acute attention to detail and appreciation for expertise. Growing up in Illinois, it was his neighborhood friend who first introduced him to the game he would revere for years to come. By analyzing the trials and tribulations of the game and, in turn, the collective effort that comes with overcoming the latter, he has been able to instill in both himself and those around him the importance of community and cooperative action in environments that span far beyond athletics.

“[I was taught] the power of camaraderie and mentorship and how it can have an effect on who someone becomes as a person,” Julian said. “In order for a group of people to be good at what they’re doing, they have to work together. No one-man show for such a daunting task will ever be continuously successful.” 

Outside of ice hockey, he finds his inquisitiveness piqued in not only the cataclysm of skates slashing ice, but also the melodious syntax of music, an interest that has been embedded in the strings of his upbringing. From being a leader in the Ranger marching band to now, music has continued to accompany him throughout his life, carrying a tone of comfort and contentment. To him, the many maneuvers of ice hockey are not much different from the tendrils of a tune: both require composure and equanimity, an attribute that Julian has learned to harness through learned experience.

“A lot of [my] hobbies came from a natural formation,” Julian said. “[My interest in] music came from my dad and all of his supposed classics in the ’80s to his favorite stuff of the recent past. I think, in regard to music, it was performing on Ford Field when I was a freshman and a sophomore [that was a favorite moment] for me. It was a big stage, but that pressure never got to me. Usually, it would, but not then.”

While Julian works to pride himself on his logistical collectedness in high-stakes moments and tense situations, he feels an equally potent sentiment when looking back upon such mementos. This pride and nostalgia, in conjunction with one another, have provided him with poignant lessons on growth and change—not only as a performer, but as a person.

“When it’s all said and done,” Julian said, “all these moments that I hold dearly taught me that the moments one has are very finite and they fade fast. You must cherish the present because in a few years, those moments will be the ones you want to hold on to the most—the moments that not many receive.”

For him, it is not the tangible success or glory that these moments prompt that makes them so profound, but rather the fact that he is pursuing his true, authentic passions. Through a series of trial and error, he has learned that the flamboyance of an occasion pales in comparison to the genuine joy that it channels. It is this jubilation that motivates him to pertain a sense of industrious perseverance, even in moments of exhaustion and weariness.

“I sincerely think dedicating your time to stuff that looks good instead of things that you’d rather be doing is sort of a waste of time,” Julian said. “The feeling of getting burnt out is a real thing, [and] at a certain point you just want to say, ‘I don’t really care anymore. What’s the point of all this?’ When it’s all said and done, if you truly love what you’re doing, go the farthest distance you can go with it.”

Looking back upon the past four years of high school, he is hopeful that others will savor and find joy in time spent pursuing interests from the heart. Whether it entails annotating a game of stick and puck or finding timbre in the filaments of song, he continues to carry with him a lifelong commitment not only to a mastery of mental amenities, but doing everything in earnest despite outside pressures.

“I know this sounds cheesy,” Julian said, “but my advice is do what you love, not what you think is required. Don’t spend your time doing things just because you want to say you did them; do them because you enjoy doing them. At the end of the day, people will say I’m a hypocrite, but that’s fine; they’re not totally wrong.”