Talented Episcopal Students Pursue Extracurricular Activities

At Episcopal High School, there are a number of talented students who manage to include hobbies and activities that have a personal importance, pursuits that in some cases are not offered at most high schools in Houston. 

These students learn to manage their schoolwork with these activities, sometimes traveling across the country to show off their talents and hard work. These incredible individuals show that an Episcopal student can thrive outside of campus while balancing a hectic school life. 

With activities including equestrian, Ultimate Frisbee, gymnastics, ice hockey, squash, and many others, these students are just some of the examples of the diverse environment that Episcopal embodies. 

Junior Sam Kant practices Ultimate Frisbee twice a week for up to four hours during each summer. Recently, his team finished ninth in the nation at one of the many competitions that they traveled to in Blaine, Minnesota. He began the sport in the fourth grade, playing for fun with his friends, but he joined a team and began to take it more competitively. 

Equestrian is another example of an activity in which EHS students excel. These riders either ride as hobby or perform on horseback in competitions. Practice after school almost every day can be time consuming. Junior Haley Hammer practices six a week for four to five hours each day. She travels for competitions to places such as Kentucky, Florida, Michigan, and Colorado. She has earned many victories, such as International Derby Champion. This is a big honor because she beat out over 30 professionals in the same field. 

Another hobby that many students are involved in is competitive gymnastics. Sophomore Sophia Neylon practices over 25 hours per week and has been doing competitive gymnastics for the past nine years. She has participated in roughly 50 meets all around the nation, including Oklahoma, Las Vegas, Colorado, Utah, Arkansas, and cities in Texas. In each meet she competes in events such as bars, beam, floor, and vault and places first to third in almost every event. 

Another student who dedicates her time to an outside sport is freshman Yana Sharma. She plays a sport called Squash; Squash is an individual, indoor, racket sport that is played year-round and requires lots of strategic thinking. It involves “a combination of agility, flexibility, strength, conditioning, cardiovascular endurance and match play.” 

Playing four times a week for over 15 hours, she continues to develop many skills. Since it is a very popular sport in the North, Yana travels all over the US, attending many tournaments. Currently Yana is ranked at 26 out of every girl here in America. 

All this hard work and dedication has come to fruition resulting in very talented, nationally ranked student athletes.