From when junior Katie Hoffman was young to now, she has picked up a myriad of talents. 

Katie has already found what she’s passionate about, one of which being music. Inspired by her dad and his guitar-heavy favorite bands, Katie grew up surrounded by a passion for music and used that to develop her own passions.

“My dad inspired me, and I’ve grown up with a lot of music and a lot of Nirvana and other bands,” Katie said. “It made me learn guitar like them.”

Being around music most of her life has allowed her to try it out for herself. She has learned to play the guitar, violin, and how to sing. Katie doesn’t just love to play music, but she also loves to listen to it. When it comes to which type, she prefers certain genres over others. 

“Recently it’s been indie rock,” Katie said, “and I [also] like my fair share of classic rock.” 

Recently, she has been listening to Florence + the Machine, Pinback, and Warm Thoughts. With her love for the guitar and other instruments, some better than others, she uses it to pursue many musical endeavors, her most recent being lead singer of a band. 

“I used to play the violin but I was terrible,” Katie said. “Now I’m the lead singer of this band.”

With every passing year, her love for music only grows more and more; Katie hopes to be a part of her band for the long run. 

“[It’s with] Luc James music studio,” Katie said. “I just recently joined this band called Revival, but I’ve been with the studio for the past three years now, just in different bands—it’s pretty cool.” 

Using music as an escape and an outlet, Katie turns to writing for the same benefits.

“I definitely love to write,” Katie said. ”[I use it to] get away [and] to get my emotions out, and it’s really fun.”

Her love of writing inspired her to discover more writing styles, such as poetry. Inspired to begin writing by famous poets, Katie has, in the same way she learned the guitar, developed a real sense of self through these different art mediums.

“I really enjoy reading poetry like Edgar Allen Poe and Allen Ginsberg,” Katie said. “[They] were some of the poets I just started reading, so [they made me] want to try writing [poetry] out for myself.”

Through her interest in the art of music and poetry writing, she also discovered philosophy, which can be closely tied to the same existentialism that poetry writing or music-making can sometimes bring.

“I honestly have no idea [how I got into it],” Katie said, “I was just really intrigued by it just from hearing about absurdism and existentialism. So, I just started researching it and became interested.”

Katie was already familiar with absurdism and existentialism, and since they go hand in hand, she delved deeper into the world of philosophy. 

“It’s basically understanding the world to me,” Katie said. “One of the main questions in philosophy is why are we here and what’s our purpose” 

With Katie’s motley of talents, passions, and interests, she plans to continue developing her musicianship, writing style, and knowledge with philosophy. While she is not quite sure which path she will follow in terms of her future, Katie is assured that she has many areas to choose from when she does have to make the choice. 

“Right now, I have absolutely no idea what I want to do,” Katie said. “It would be really nice to have some of those [hobbies] involved in the career that I choose.”