Junior Josie Devries grew up with music bouncing off the walls straight into her ears and the outstanding colors of fresh paintings and pieces of artwork catching her eye. Josie was constantly surrounded by art in any form; the right side of her brain was constantly thinking and creating.

Josie’s outgoing and bubbly personality portrays her love for everything unique, she always looks at life as something that she can write into the staves of an empty piece of staff paper. For Josie, the basic sit-down learning system never appealed to her; she always felt like there was something more for her to do, something for her creative energy to be focused on.

When Josie was much younger, she was knee-deep in creative writing and short stories about anything and everything. Josie’s best friend was the pencil in her hand, from writing miniature film scripts that she created in elementary school to her newfound high school love, creating music, she always kept the pencil in her hand.

“I write instrumental songs,” Josie explained. “I feel like most of the music I write, because I don’t like writing upbeat stuff, is more chill, sad stuff. And usually, when I’m in a bad mood or am upset, then I’m putting those feelings into music. Music is always a really expressive form of art, and for a lot of people, it’s that way too. All the people that I know [who] write music really enjoy it because those strong emotions can be expressed.”

Josie’s need for a creative outlet was put to good use; she is constantly creating in her downtime and spending those hours expressing and letting go of all the stress of the day. Her home life was painted with the vibrant colors of supportive family and encouraging opportunities which is something Josie could never take for granted.

“My mom’s side of the family is really into creative arts,” Josie said. “One of my cousins works in the fashion industry, the other is going to art school, and my uncle is a musician. So my family is really creative; we have a little bit of pizzazz.” 

Josie has always been accustomed to a life of paintbrushes, pencils, microphones, instruments, and any other artistic utensil under the sun. Her love for what she does shapes who she is today, and she is extremely grateful for those who constantly support her.

Josie took advantage of the love of music in her family and is now carrying the torch for her uncle. She asked him to start teaching her guitar in seventh grade, and that’s when it all really clicked; that’s when she realized this was what she needed in order to let loose and be herself. But, the true beginning of her musical career was in sixth grade at Central Woodlands; Josie wanted to play trumpet and play along with the other brass instruments but quickly switched to the cello—a string instrument. 

“I feel like I do want to pursue the cello,” Josie considered, “But to an extent. Cello is my favorite instrument, but maybe I wouldn’t pursue it as a career, but I do want to be involved with that for a while.” 

Josie has made a timely commitment to her instruments and her music lessons reflect her passion and seriousness towards her musical career. What started as a simple hobby grew into her main focus in life and her stress reliever.

“I think that throughout the past few years music has really helped me find my sense of self,” Josie said. “Using music as an outlet to manage my emotions also helped enhance more creative forms of coping and I think it also just generally improved my creativity. But along with writing, [music] was a huge gateway into everything expressive and that makes up a lot of who I am now.”