It’s uncommon for contrasting activities to be participated in by the same person as students tend to join clubs that fit their niche. Well, except for senior Drew Darnold, who devotes his time to being a member of the school’s Titanium varsity show choir as well as a top-level club soccer player.
Darnold, 12th, typically is busy with show choir or soccer every weeknight. This pack of a schedule comes with the acceptance that he can’t make it to everything.
“Lots of decisions I make revolve around what’s most important that week,” Darnold said. If I have a soccer game, then I’ll prioritize soccer, versus if we have a show choir competition, then I’ll be at show choir.”
Soccer hasn’t always been his sport of choice. Darnold played basketball until high school and ran cross country freshman year. However, he gave up both due to scheduling, and chose to commit to soccer.
Darnold is currently a member of the Gretna Elite Academy soccer team, where he mostly plays attacking roles. The team primarily plays in the Midwest, but two matches are played anywhere in the country. This season, Darnold and his team went to Las Vegas and the Tampa Bay area.
“I guess it was just a sport that I enjoyed working on outside of just playing, you know?” he said. “Working on my own was something that I enjoyed doing with soccer way more than I ever enjoyed doing with anything else.
Along with bringing the heat on the soccer field, Darnold’s a bass singer for Titanium, South’s varsity show choir club. Despite having just an “okay” season, his personal biggest achievement was beating Westside at Elkhorn South.
“My biggest victory in show choir was beating Westside… it was the first time Westside had lost a competition in Nebraska in 50 years.”
To top it all off, Darnold is finishing up his last semester of high school. Being a senior with a double-late start permits time for finishing homework.
“Normally it’s hopefully getting stuff done in the small spaces between everything I do,” he said. “Typically I’m not out super late most nights, … it doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for video games and such.”
With so much time taken up during the school year, Darnold looks towards summer break to partake in jobs. Currently, he works for a company called Future Kids.
“Future Kids is a company that goes to different after school activities around the Omaha area to help younger kids get involved in sports…just getting them moving and doing something outside of their regular activities.”
Nonetheless, Darnold finds value in the different skills he’s honed and connections he’s made along the way.
“You don’t do any singing in soccer, and, of course, there’s a lot less running in show choir than in soccer,” Darnold joked.
Darnold also values the different people that play a sport compared to those in the performing arts. There’s not a lot in common when it comes to the social aspect of the two, but Darnold believes that doesn’t take away from the experience of doing both.
“I’m sure some people are thinking, ‘I wouldn’t enjoy that at all, because I don’t want to do a sport if I’m in Choir, that doesn’t sound any fun.’In fact, both can be very fun and people just don’t realize that …just because it’s not what your idea of fun is, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it at all.”
“I just think that I’ve made a lot of friends during the process of the two,” he explained. “I really wanna continue to do this stuff so I can be around them and keep building relationships.”
While he values friendships, there’s another pull that continually draws Darnold back to the fields, or stage.
“I guess it’s the competing aspect,” he said. “Like, I really love getting on stage and having fun performing on stage. And for soccer, I just love to go and play against teams.”
Darnold is ending his high school career on a high note, with so many life lessons learned from devoting time to being a member of Titanium and of the Gretna Elite Academy.
“Being in a lot of activities gives you lots of chances to develop your leadership skills,” he remarked, “which can always be used in every facet of life. So, yeah, friendships and leadership skills, I guess.”
