Many would be surprised to learn that senior Katherine Haver has made a hobby of teaching herself to play the piano and guitar. She is a girl of many interests, ranging from athletics to music and arts. Today, I interviewed Katherine about her growing interests and how she was able to nurture what some might call her “hidden talents”.

The Wrangler: So I heard you taught yourself how to play piano and guitar. What made you want to learn?

Haver: Well my dad played guitar and I just saw him playing a lot as a kid, and I found a guitar in my brother’s old closet and I just started looking up chords online and learned how to play and started picking songs and stuff.

The Wrangler: What kind of songs do you like to learn how to play?

Haver: Just any of my favorite music. I’ll look up whatever I’m listening to at the time.

The Wrangler: When did you first start learning to play guitar?

Haver: My dad taught me initially in seventh grade. I learned how to play a little bit and played for like a year or so, but then I stopped and picked it up in the tenth grade again.

The Wrangler: What else do you play?

Haver: I play piano too. I learned that on my own as well, because my mom just bought us a grand piano whenever we were little kids because she always wanted us to be musical. So I kind of just started looking up songs and we had songbooks so I just tried to play some chords and notes and stuff like that.

The Wrangler: That’s actually pretty cool. I always used to wish I was put into singing lessons or dance lessons.

Haver: Dance lessons, yes! I always wanted to dance as a kid. I think I would be so good if I just did it as a child. Maybe. I don’t know. I think if I did softball as a child or dancing as a child, I would still be doing it.

The Wrangler: What other sports did you play?

Haver: I played softball for a little bit. And I swam. I started swimming when I was like five years old. I joined the Greatwood Gators. I swam for ten years of my life though.