Managing your time for school while in sports and doing extracurriculars has always been difficult but for Alysha Haight, all she’s done is excel in the opportunities that she’s worked for.

   Chad Mielens, the band teacher here at West, has been teaching Alysha for three years and was hired in 2018. Even when Mielens started here, Alysha was already at the top of her band class.

   “She was already at the top end of our wind ensemble when I got here, but what I’ve seen is every year we give her more leadership opportunities. Her junior year she was bass drum section leader and this year she was the drum captain for the whole drumline,” Mielens said. “Obviously while she’s continuing to improve musically the more she plays but I’ve really noticed that the more responsibilities that you give her, the more responsibilities she can step up and take.”

    Haight started her musical career when she was only six years old and started taking piano lessons, from then on she started percussion in fifth grade and has loved music ever since.

   “I’ve been in band since sixth grade and all four years of high school. I started playing when I was six,” Haight said.

   Haight has always been prepared to step up when someone needs to and has done more than necessary which are qualities of a great leader.

   “I think she’s [Alysha] a leader in the classroom because she sets an example, she’s prepared, she’s on time, she takes care of her business,” Mielens said. “She’s not necessarily vocal about it but I think there are different ways that you can lead and in my mind, she’s one of the ideal members of the program because she is very humble. I think that’s one of the reasons why people are willing to work with her, is because of that.”

   While being a leader in band, Haight is also a leader on the field and is one of the three captains on West’s varsity soccer team and has been playing since she was six years old and almost all of her high school career. Haight has some of her own difficulties but has pushed through it all.

   “Doing both [soccer and band] does take up the majority of my time, so I’d have Northstorm in the fall along with marching band. Sometimes it would get overwhelming but you just got to keep pushing through it,” Haight said. “It’s going to get super hard and you’re going to get overwhelmed especially when you have practice every day and games two to three times a week and it’s hard to manage with school but you got to stick with it and push through it and it’s going to be so worth it when you look back on it.”

   While Haight will be dearly missed out on the field and in the band room Mielens knows she’ll do great things.

   “I think she’s going to be very successful in whatever she decides to do and she’ll be incredible but we’ll miss having her here,” Mielens said.