SNOHOMISH — Annika Bjorling, 17, is a senior at Snohomish High School. She delivered a message to mean girls at Snohomish schools last year along with her mother, Susan, and sisters, Addison, 15 and Arleigh, 11 as part of the nationwide Kind Campaign. They hoped to pacify the girl-on-girl bullying that is rampant among young women. Annika models kindness in hopes that other will follow.
Question: What was your freshman year like coming from a much smaller school in Lakewood?
Answer: It was really overwhelming at first. But through LINK Crew, I met a lot of my really good friends. Now we all do LINK Crew together to make sure incoming freshmen feel welcome. They see I made friends and got involved so they can too. Being able to say, “Hey you got this” is great.
Q: I understand you’ve been very involved in theater and are club president this year.
A: We’re a family. We have many fun traditions, such as going nuts acting like a dinosaur, or making lemon and lion faces.
Q: What are some of your favorite productions you’ve done?
A: We did “Alice in Wonderland” and “Shrek” as a musical. I was Humpty Dumpty and I sang a duet with the wicked witch called “Freak Flag.” We got to send that message of everyone being happy with who they are to all the kids in the audience. High school is so awkward and people try so hard to make friends, they sometimes lose themselves. If we could all just let our freak flag fly, we’d have a lot better experience.
Q: Tell me about your involvement in music?
A: They say if you can learn piano, you can learn any instrument so I’ve been playing since I was 5. I used to hate it because you had to sit down and focus. By 10, I started to really enjoy it. Now, I also teach piano to younger kids and play at the senior center, which I’d like to do more often.
Q: Why the senior center?
A: I played for them one time and this man in his late 70s kept coming back to listen. He finally asked if he could play too. He sat down and played a long song from memory. He said he hadn’t played in a long time but when he did he was able to remember his childhood. That was an amazing experience to be a part of.
Q: You also sing in choir and are sometimes the accompanist?
A: I sing in jazz choir and mixed choir. I enjoy playing classical and folk songs so you can be more expressive. Outside of choir, I love to play movie scores from Disney.
Q: I understand you performed in “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying” at the Village Theater in Everett this summer. What was that like?
A: We spent so long on it and it paid off. It looked really cool. It was almost like doing it for a living. It opened my eyes to maybe this is something I want to do later in life.
Q: What are you thinking for after graduation?
A: I’m open to whatever happens. I hope to attend a four-year university in Washington or Oregon to stay close to family. The University of Portland has an awesome music program. I’d love to be a choir teacher. And Seattle Pacific University has a music therapy program. If I could reach out to people with music and help them with something I love, I’d be fulfilled.
Amy Nile: 425-339-3192; anile@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @AmyNileReports.
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