Sports Staff

Lucy O’Brien is one of the most busy and active people I know, with all of her after school activities. She manages to do a lot of activities, along with keeping up with school and other things. 

All of her activities are so different and impressive, and they’re one of the things she is the most proud of. I was able to interview her and find out more about her.

Lucy is a 14 year old freshman at the J Graham Brown School. Her favorite subject is math, and she’s currently taking 2 math classes. (Geometry and Algebra 2) She plays many instruments, sings, plays hockey, does cross country and track, and dances. With all of these hobbies, she obviously has a very busy schedule, with activities basically every day. Lucy is very thankful for all the opportunities her parents give her for all her activities, and she is very passionate about everything she does. 

“I’m so grateful that my parents can support everything I do,” she said, “If I had a sibling, I probably wouldn’t be able to do everything that I do right now.” 

One of Lucy’s hobbies is ice hockey. She often travels to Nashville for camps and different clinics, and to watch professional hockey. Her favorite team is the Nashville Predators. 

Her dream job is commentating for the NHL, and as soon as she turns 16 she will be interning for summer sports. In the future, she would also like to move to Nashville. 

Lucy also plays a lot of music. She plays electric and acoustic guitar, bass, and ukulele, and she also sings. She takes lessons and performs for School of Rock, and has been in many different groups and played a lot of different genres. Her favorite genres are punk, rock, and pop. A few shows she's been in are 80’s pop, emo, karaoke hits, and pop punk. Lucy loves being on stage, and she said it has really helped her become more confident and come out of her shell. 

With all of these activities, it’s obvious that Lucy has a lot of things going on. So how does she manage everything on her schedule and complete school work? Well, she uses time in the car to do homework, and she completes work during breaks in her activities. 

When she doesn’t have any activities going on or school work to do, Lucy loves listening to music, being with her family & dogs, watching TV, and going outside/gardening.

Here are some facts about Lucy that you might not know:

• She loves going to animal sanctuaries.

• She's vegan.

• She has been dancing for 12 years.

• She has two dogs, Indy and Kona.

• Her lucky number is 84.

• She has a garden.

• Her first name means light, her middle name (Pacific) means peace, and her last name is Irish. Her nicknames are Lucy Goosey and Luce.

• Her biggest fear is millipedes/centipedes.

• She used to love dinosaurs, and if she could time travel she would go to prehistoric times.

• If she could eat one food for the rest of her life, it would be tacos because you can change them up!

Journee Ruff is one of our new reporters here at the Brown School. She's an up-and-coming fashion designer who recently became interested in fashion. She was inspired by her aunt, who also has a penchant for clothing and design. She loves putting together outfits and coming up with new ways to express herself through clothing. Fashion has become a very important part of her life, and a wonderful creative outlet for her.

Journee has just begun her freshman year and is a member of the girls basketball team. Although she loves fashion, basketball is close behind on her list of favorite things. If possible, she would love to play basketball professionally. She tried soccer once, but eventually decided it wasn’t for her and decided to focus on basketball. She is a strong team player and is hoping to join the high school girl’s basketball team this year. When you go to a Brown basketball game, look out for number three!

Because of her love of basketball, Journee plans to be a part of the Sports section of the newspaper this year. She and the Sports staff will report on the latest news in the Brown School sports world. Make sure to be on the lookout for articles on the ups and downs of Brown Bear sports, brought to you by our very own Journee Ruff.

Have you ever met someone who is simultaneously the most creative and outgoing person ever- but also the sleepiest? Naolin Wilson fits that description.She loves art and comes up with very different creative ideas. When with her friends, she is incredibly funny and has an amazing personality. However, if you catch her at school, she is most likely taking a nap during class.

Naolin was born in Louisville, Kentucky on July 24th, 2008. Her nickname given to her by her mother was Annabannana. Even though the nickname doesn't have a specific meaning, it has always been what her mother calls her. She is now 15 years old and attending the J. Graham Brown School as a sophomore. She has been at Brown since kindergarten. She has 13 siblings who are all older than her. 

Her favorite things are her animals, sleeping, and rollerskating. She has 2 dogs and 1 cat. Their names are Nekko, Nila, and Luna. She likes to roller skate whenever she can because she has really good friends there and it makes her really happy to improve her skills while having fun. Because she loves to roller skate, she’s considering getting a job at Champs Rollerdrome.

She is yet to figure out where she will be going to college, however, she does want to major in psychology. She plans on moving away from Kentucky in her future to a more quiet and private place like Oregon because she's not a fan of Louisville. Even though she plans on moving to Oregon, her dream place to go is either Dubai or Michigan because of the beautiful landscapes and past relationships.

When given the assignment to interview Ben Clevenger, I was excited to practice my interview skills. Since I knew Ben from the year before, I thought it’d be easier because we have an existing connection. 

Based on Ben has told me, it seems he is a bit pessimistic about himself. When asked what he was most proud of, at first he said nothing. I urged him to think of something, and he came up with being proud of getting the most goals in elementary school soccer. When asking what words he’d use to explain himself he said “antisocial, annoying, and tired.” I did not want to ask why he felt this way, as it felt very personal.

One thing Ben was confident about was that he wants to get into law. He said he wants to see himself in law school in 5 years, and when asked what job he’d want he said “law or content creation.” Content creation is a big difference from a job in law. I asked him to elaborate on why he chose these two professions and he said “Content creation just seems fun, and law seems like something I could do for the long run and be something I'm good at. Content creation is more of a backup plan.” While being set on the law idea, he would like to stay in Kentucky and he does not have a preferred college, however he has been researching colleges. 

I asked Ben the question “how do you think your presence would positively impact the newspaper?” His answer impressed me. He said his father is a well known photographer, and he could get lessons so he could become a photographer for the newspaper. Ben does not believe his hobbies could help his work in the newspaper, but I disagree. I specified to him that any hobby can help him in the newspaper because it can give him story ideas. 

I believe with a bit of support, Ben's personal view of himself could become a lot more positive. This support could be from his friends, classmates, teachers, family, and especially himself. Believing in yourself is one of the first steps to improving your self image.