On a bright sunny day at the archery range, you can see someone with piercing eyes staring down the target with a bow. In the middle of an important competition, the arrow is released as it travels at astonishing speed, hitting the bullseye with maximum precision.
The person behind the bow is Hannah Chen, a remarkably talented individual who participates in archery competitions. She was inspired to start archery by a family friend. As years passed, Hannah improved in skill as she made multiple notable achievements. She qualified for national competitions that her archery development team had helped her practice and prepare for, including a competition at Berkeley.
A couple of years later it was time to make a big jump in her life: entering high school. At first, Hannah Chen was shy around people and mostly minded her own business. However, her approach to life slowly changed. “While I considered myself as an introvert throughout the starting of my freshman year, I am more comfortable knowing more people and having friend groups and meeting everyone in the community,” she says.
Hannah decided to take on Weight Conditioning as an elective for her senior year. Mr. Labbie, her Weight Conditioning teacher, explains that Hannah is extremely humble about her archery accomplishments. “She has never mentioned anything about archery but that is not surprising because she is a really humble person and … I wouldn’t be surprised if she has many hidden talents that I don’t know about,” he says.
Hannah demonstrates perseverance not only in archery but in school as well, and Mr. Labbie has noticed her efforts in his class. “Hannah is one of the hardest working females that I have ever had in this weight lifting class,” he says. “She has taken advantage of it and really seen some incredible gains.”
Hannah was unfortunately denied competition time after Covid hit, as facilities closed and continuing to play as normal became nearly impossible. However, Hannah practiced as much as she could under pandemic restrictions while maintaining her focus on academics.
Hannah plans to go to Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon to pursue new interests in life. Wherever Hannah’s future leads her, she will definitely put in all the skills she learned from SMHS and from her extracurricular activities to good use. “In the future, I plan to continue doing archery as a hobby or something on the side,” she says. “It is not something that I can carry on as a professional thing but I really enjoyed it, so I would like to continue.” Hannah’s presence will definitely be missed at SMHS and we wish the best for her.