Mahlet Demissachew’s friends know her best for her bright and caring personality and fun sense of humor, but recently she decided to pursue a lesser-known passion: drumming. She started learning the instrument on her own during her junior year, and she tries to practice it at least once a week.

“I’m not a very vocal person, so when I have an issue or when I want to express myself, I just go to the drums,” Mahlet said.

Drumming helps relieve her stress from both school and life in general. With her final year of high school coming to an end soon, Mahlet believes in living in the moment and giving her best effort into everything she does.

“My mom has always told me, and still reminds me to this day, that every little thing matters, and that the time and effort that I spend in doing something is never wasted if I wholeheartedly put everything I have into it,” she said. “[I] give my all, [my] 100% effort into everything I do, because it’ll eventually pay off in the long run, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the time.”

While still staying true to her mom’s advice, she also believes that stressing over unimportant, trivial matters should not consume her entire life.

“I would definitely tell myself not to stress out over the things that are not important and remember that all things happen for a reason because I truly believe that they do,” she said. “What seems to be the biggest deal at the time really won’t be—I won’t even remember it in a year, probably.”

Apart from drumming, Mahlet enjoys going on adventures with her friends, watching movies, listening to Beyoncé and Mariah Carey, hiking and catching up on TV shows.

“Mahlet is easily the most hilarious person I know and I’m so glad she’s in my life because she makes every situation so much fun, and I love being around her,” Noor Singh (12) said.