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04/24/2024 08:30 AMNorth Haven High School (NHHS) senior Avery Karasinski has a diverse palette of interests and accomplishments. He is on his school’s varsity baseball team, has worked behind the scenes on numerous stage productions, and is also a junior pilot, a musician, and an honors student.
Avery says his full schedule of differing obligations “definitely keeps me busy,” but adds that “most times, it works out.”
Avery has been able to strike a balance between sports and the performing arts at NHHS. He likes how being involved in both endeavors provides a way for him to enjoy the company of different kinds of personalities.
“I love knowing so many different people,” Avery says. “There's such a different group of people that play baseball and then music and all that. It’s two different types of people, and it's nice to get to connect with both sides.”
In the field of performing arts, Avery has handled lighting responsibilities for the NHHS musical production and was a member of the stage crew at the Shubert Theatre. His time at the latter venue included assisting in productions staged by Sacred Heart Academy, one of them being Rock of Ages. It was an intensive experience working in a professional, 110-year-old theatre that has staged hundreds of pre-Broadway productions.
“You have the professionals looking over your shoulder, making sure you do everything right,” Avery says.
Avery says that being up on stage as an actor is not exactly his preferred situation. For his own performance, Avery turns to the trumpet, an instrument he has played since elementary school.
“I remember in 3rd grade, they were showing us all the different instruments because we had to pick for next year if you want to do band or chorus. I took the trumpet and, ever since then, I was just hooked,” Avery says.
Avery’s instrument of choice differs from his typical taste in music. While he will sometimes listen to jazz, Avery prefers country music. However, Avery does enjoy the musicals he’s involved in, along with some other ones that have sparked his interest.
“I always enjoy going to the Shubert to watch a show. I’m trying to get up to Broadway at some point,” he says.
Just like with the trumpet, Avery has played baseball for many years, starting with tee-ball at an early age to now become a first baseman for the NHHS varsity team. After having stuck with certain hobbies and interests for so long, Avery wonders how he would fill his time if one of them were to go away.
“Every once in a while, [he thinks], ‘What’s gonna happen if I stop playing either trumpet or baseball?’ There’s an empty gap,” Avery says.
Fortunately, flying is another hobby with which Avery could fill that gap. While he is still looking at a couple of schools for higher education, Avery’s interest in flying has informed one of his considered majors.
“I'm probably going into aeronautical science,” Avery says. “Ever since I was young, I've always just been so intrigued by it, always looking at the sky, always looking at a plane overhead.”
To help him know more about planes flying overhead, Avery uses an app called Flightradar24, which can track flights in a real-time way and includes tracking information such as origin and destination, flight number, speeds, and the type of aircraft.
Avery says that it’s a “strange feeling” controlling an aircraft for the first time while being “thousands of feet in the air,” but he adds that it is “starting to feel normal now” after having gained more experience.
Avery recalls the strange feeling from when he was returning during his first solo flight last November, although he also remembers the sense of accomplishment that came with it.
“I looked over, and there's no one next to me,” says Avery. “It was so weird and rewarding to see no one next to you and you know you can do it.”
From flying to performing arts to sports, and all the while achieving honors, you would think there must be some sort of secret for Avery. However, he says that it’s all pretty simple.
“Pay attention in class,” Avery says. “There’s times to goof off, and there's times not to. Make sure you're keeping up with things. There’s definitely been nights I've had to stay up to finish an essay or some homework, but I think it's definitely worth it for me. I do work hard trying to balance everything, and I do find time.”