What is your name, age, and year?
My name is Gaba Gomez; I’m fifteen, and I’m a sophomore.
What activities are you involved in at North?
I do varsity soccer and I play the tuba; I’m in Symphonic Winds. I’m also a swimmer on varsity and I’m in Robotics Club with my sister (Sarah Gomez, senior)
What are your hobbies outside of school?
I play a lot of soccer. I’ve done it for so long; I’d say I started in, like, 2016 or 2017. I used to do swimming outside of school, too; I was about seven when I started that, but now I just do school swimming. I also play tuba in CYSO (Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra). It’s my first year doing that.
What kind of music do you listen to?
I love Laufey and I love Billie Eillish. I like the Marías, Tyler, The Creator, Charli XCX, Tame Impala, The Strokes, and I love Clairo. That’s pretty much the main stuff.
What are your favorite movies/ TV shows?
I haven’t really watched anything recently, but I like the Star Wars franchise. They came out with TV shows related to that whole universe, and I like one called Andor.
What is your favorite food?
My favorite food is my dad’s homemade pizza.
What’s something you do to relieve stress?
Honestly, drawing, if I have even a little bit of time. I used to be big about doing art and stuff, and now it’s just doodling whenever I have time. That kind of never happens, but whenever I can, I still draw.
Out of the classes you’re taking right now, which is your favorite and which is the most challenging?
Out of all my classes, honors chemistry is the one I have the most friends in. It’s a good way to start my day, just being able to walk in and know I’m gonna see my friends, so that might be my favorite. My hardest class right now is either computer science or math. I would say computer science especially; it’s really hard right now. It’s difficult to understand stuff at first, but once you get it, it’s pretty chill.
What kind of professional field are you interested in pursuing after high school?
It would probably be centered around either engineering or hopefully something somewhat related to music because I don’t want to drop that forever. I want to do something academic, like engineering, but I also want to find ways to keep music in my life.
Who is your biggest inspiration in life?
Probably my sister, Sarah. She’s the biggest one because we grew up and started doing our hobbies together. She guides me in what I do, with sports but also with instruments and CYSO. The reason why I found out about CYSO and did it was because of her. I don’t think I would have done it without her; I probably wouldn’t even know it existed. I also do Robotics Club with my sister. She influenced me to join it back in middle school, and now we’re on the same team in high school, Team 333V. Last year, she was the team coder and I was the driver, so we really locked in together and ended up making it to State. She’s such an inspiration. A lot of the classes I’m taking are because of her, too. She recommended them to me, and now they’re things I’m actually interested in.
What do you pride yourself in the most?
I’m most proud of my ability to do a ton of stuff at once. If I have the time, I’ll just do it, and I kind of put away being tired. The reason I went to All-State last year was those thirty minutes when I came home from practice. We have a rule in my house that we’re not allowed to play instruments after 10:00 pm. I’d come home at, like, 9:30; I’d be tired, but instead of choosing to lay down and be on my phone, I would practice tuba for that little remaining bit of time. I would squeeze playing tuba into every free moment I had, during study hall and lunch, and all those little minutes didn’t seem significant at the time but they paid off at the end of the day. Even just ten more minutes of practice can get you a lot farther than you think. And with sports, too. If I have a game right after a meet, I just go to it. That’s the mindset, I guess, just do it; if you have the time, just do it. Time is more precious than feeling comfortable.
