Random Ranger: Bella Williams, 10th Grade

How is your school year going so far? My school year is going good. I was new last year and so it was weird but I made some friends so it’s going good.

You said you were new, did you move here from a different state? No, I just didn’t go to the middle school that everyone else went to. Everyone was new last year, technically, but I didn’t go to Henry or any of the Leander ISD Middle schools.

How was it making friends through virtual? It was super difficult. I made probably two friends in total all of last year and it was weird because it was, I don’t know. Because you didn’t really talk to people and even in breakout rooms it was awkward. But yeah, I made a couple of friends so that was good.

Tell me about your experience making friends. How was it for you? It was cool. I definitely had to be the first person to talk and reach out to people cause no one really wanted friends last year and I don’t really know why. Some people just didn’t really reciprocate the friendship or whatever but, I mean, it was mostly good.

Are you involved in anything on campus, and if so, what? I am in the theatre department and I am going to try out for the musical next week but I don’t know if that counts as being involved.

Have you always shown interest in musical theatre? Not necessarily musical theatre but music and acting, yeah.

What are some of your hobbies and interests? I like reading. I do Taekwondo and that’s like my job, and I work there. I don’t know, I guess being a student doesn’t really count as a hobby but I like learning. 

What is your favorite class this year? My favorite core class would probably be Math and I’m not really a math person but I don’t know, Math this year has been pretty good. My favorite elective would probably be musical theatre.

How long have you been doing Taekwondo for? About two and a half years

And what would you say is your favorite or biggest takeaway from Taekwondo? It’s definitely that it’s not about hurting other people, it’s more about protecting yourself and more about defending others, honestly. You’re definitely not taught to just start fights but it’s definitely like you would be able to finish the fight. It’s cool because you just know that you can protect yourself which is a good way to go about life.

How would you say Taekwondo has changed you as a person? I would say it probably gave me better leadership skills because I am the highest rank in the school. It also kind of taught me to be persistent because some things you just can’t do and some things you need to learn how to do.

Would you say that those traits in Taekwondo transitioned into helping you make new friends? Yeah, they probably did yeah. And kind of just being persistent and knowing you’re in it for the long run and patience is key. That’s like my thing.

What is something not a lot of people know about Taekwondo? Not a lot of people know that it isn’t about fighting, it’s not. It’s more about inner balance. You kind of have to really know yourself in order to succeed in Taekwondo which is an odd way to put it, but it’s not all about fighting.