Always ready to greet you with a smile and a kind word, Sky Russell is a Senior here at Freedom High School. She excels not only in academics, but also showcases her creativity in many ways.

“I mostly paint and I’ve been working with some digital design,” said Russell. She has practiced with diverse mediums and styles, including glass, printmaking, watercolor, and drawing. 

“Most recently, I’ve been working on the portfolio for my AP Drawing class. This year, all my pieces were watercolor and watercolor designs,” Russell noted.

Russell’s multicultural background has been a major influence in her life. She comes from a Japanese-American background, with an American father and Japanese mother.

“I’ve had a dual culture in my life, with my mom being Japanese. My mom really tried to help me know the language really well. When I was little, she pretended that she didn’t speak any English. Having both cultures has been really special to me and something that I’ve tried to keep close,” said Russell.

“I really enjoyed volunteering on Saturdays at the Japanese school. It’s a school for Japanese-American kids, and a place where we can speak Japanese and learn Japanese. I work as a teacher assistant in the kindergarten classroom, and I absolutely love it. I love my kids. I’ve been doing it for three years now and I realize that I really love seeing them grow,” stated Russell.

“My mom’s an artist, she’s an illustrator, and my dad’s an architect [that teaches at USF], so he’s also kind of into the art stuff. I grew up in a really artistic household that really supported being creative,” noted Russell.

Russell is fluent in Japanese, which is certainly useful for her annual trips to Japan to see friends and family.

On Japan, Russell noted, “It’s different in a sense, though a lot of things are the same. The young people have very distinctive fashions, and it’s all very modern. The people are different. Whereas in America, strangers will say hi and talk to you, in Japan, when you’re a stranger you’re very isolated and detached.”

Born in Japan, Russell moved to the States at the age of two. She resided in Ohio until coming to Tampa in 3^rd grade.

Since then, she has developed a diverse set of interests. She enjoys reading (especially her favorite author Kurt Vonnegut), satire, and poetry, including spoken word. For the most part, Russell doesn’t follow many television shows, with the exception of Parks and Recreation.

As far as her high school experience, Sky noted, “I really wish I had challenged myself more. Early on, I thought it would be better for me if I concentrated on the things I know I like. I would avoid history classes and I took a bunch of art classes. I wish I had gone a little more out of my comfort zone, as far as the classes I took. I wish I had taken AP Euro but I didn’t try those things because I thought it would be best.”

After her last summer before becoming a college student, Russell will attend Harvard University.

“I almost didn’t apply at first, because Harvard was one of the last applications due. At that point, I was already really burned out on applications, but my mom was the one who pushed me. My mom said I should try it, and I ended up getting in,” Russell confessed.

“In terms of college admissions, I think part of what made my application stand out was I didn’t really do what was conventional. I’d say that’s one good thing in my application that helped me get into the school I did, besides luck. I didn’t try to take all the AP classes to try to rack up my GPA. I focused more on my personal goals and what I wanted to try regardless of my GPA,” shared Russell.

She aspires to take on a double major; one of them focusing on the arts, and something science-oriented for the other.

“Either physics or something physics-related. If not physics, I might try engineering. I’m not really sure yet, but I really love physics and astronomy. I definitely enjoyed taking Mr. Hemphill’s [AP Physics] class. And for the arts, probably something that will take me to a design-related career,” stated Russell.

Like many students leaving high school, Sky doesn’t have a specific career in mind.

“I don’t want to do anything that’s going to make me have the same routine every day. I want to do something that’s a little more exciting or allows me to be creative,” noted Russell, though she does plan to “get involved in getting more girls and women into science.”

For current high school students, Russell has just one piece of advice:

“Just do whatever you want. Don’t worry about the numbers in high school and just do what’s going to benefit you.”