Senior Tyler McNeal, media analyst by day, martial artist by night, not to mention his AP homework after that; the real question is, how does he do it? Being the president of theater, founder of a class, green belt in Tang Soo Do, and taking 3 AP classes your senior year is no easy feat, but Tyler, with a 4.0, manages it all.
Tyler joined theater in his sophomore year, just because of a suggestion from his dad, plus he thought the acting part of things would be interesting. He has been in school plays such as The Dream and The Crucible. He also has a lead role in one of our school’s unannounced plays, so make sure to go check that out!
While preparing for his senior year in advanced theater, Tyler thought to create a film club, since it’s one of his main interests. But, while filling out his class forms, he and Mr. Y, Sahuaro’s theater teacher, had the idea of turning it into a class. This new course is called Film Analysis and is offered first period.
Outside of theater and film, Tyler also partakes in martial arts, specifically a Korean martial art called Tang Soo Do. Like Karate, they also have color ranks. From lowest to highest, the ranks are white, yellow, orange, green, red, and then black. Tang Soo Do belts also include stripes, which represent a person’s progression in that belt rank. Tyler is a green belt with two stripes, striving for red by October.
He shares that he started martial arts because, “…it teaches you a way of life, and that if you build a rigorous routine, you can learn to commit to anything and, you know, be proper about a schedule, and also, it’s just good for self-defense and general flexibility and to stay level-headed.” He fully intends on continuing his practice of Tang Soo Do post-grad.
Over Tyler’s time in Sahuaro, his favorite class his probably been AP Lang. He shares, “…everyone was pretty social. You know, you get those classes sometimes that just do not want to talk, and that class was not one of those. The content was interesting. I’m interested in writing, so I thought it was an enjoyable class to learn about all that stuff and the people.”
Tyler balances theater, martial arts, and AP classes by, “…I usually set up a schedule where I go home, I immediately do like an hour to an hour of a half of homework, practice is usually later at night, so from six to eight or something like that. Theater, I usually have to do rehearsals on weekends.”
After high school, Tyler plans to major in either cinematography or criminal law. He specifically thinks being a lawyer would be interesting and would definitely pay well. He’s taking AP Government this year, and some of his family members are involved in the field as well. He hopes to go to the U of A or UCLA (if he decides to apply).
Tyler wants to sign off by giving one last piece of advice: “I think it’s important that you be devoted in your life, that you make sure you put passion into everything you do, and to always lead your life with a positive mindset, and to be respectful of others that respect you.”
