Grade: 10th

Future College: Possibly UT, NYU, or Berkeley

Years drawing: About 4 years

Years in orchestra: About 4 years

Future Job: Conductor

Inspiration: Claire Oh

Wingspan: What made you choose art?

Le: “In 6th grade, I got into anime and all of my friends liked drawing so I think it was all of us coming together and being able to express ourselves in cartoons.”

Wingspan: How does art affect your everyday life?

Le: “It’s a lot of work. It takes a lot of time to do and it’s something I actually have to think about even though some people might think art and drawing are super easy. It’s something I have to go in and know what I want to do.”

Wingspan: Do you view art as a form of expressing yourself? How come?

Le: “For sure. It’s a visual way to show what you feel. I’m not really good at talking sometimes and me communicating something through visuals is sometimes easier.”

Wingspan: What was the process leading up to the VASE competition?

Le: “I didn’t really know what VASE was until this year and what helped the most was one of my friends doing it too because both of us could go through it together and we could figure what we wanted to do with our art together.”

Wingspan: How was your experience in the VASE competition?

Le: “It was really fun. Although the worst part of it was the waiting to stay in the gyms and wait to see if our art pieces would actually qualify or not.”

Wingspan: Are you considering art as a career? How do you plan on pursuing this?

Le: “I’m considering music as a career but the thoughts have crossed my mind about art school. I think it would be a cool life to live.”

Wingspan: What made you choose the viola?

Le: “It’s actually a funny story. There were tryouts where you could try-out different instruments in the orchestra. And no one rosined the violin bow so I couldn’t make a sound on it so that’s why I chose the viola because the bow was rosined over there and I could actually play it.”

Wingspan: Do you view music as a way to express yourself? If so, how?

Le: “Yeah, this is something I realized last week because some people think that you can go through music and mark what emotions you want to get from it. It’s really interesting to be able to communicate your emotions through sound.”

Wingspan: How do you balance orchestra and art?

Le: “Orchestra take up a lot of my time as well because we have to go to rehearsals in the morning and practice. I think it’s just me trying to keep track of what’s important.”

Wingspan: When you are not involved in art or orchestra, what do are you doing?

Le: “Practicing, doing my homework and sleeping, and taking photos.”