If anyone looked at Sebastian Farrington’s life, they could never guess that he is a freshman. Being in the Arcadia High School (AHS) Math Team, American Computer Science League, Varsity Swim Team, and Concertmaster of the Concert Orchestra, Farrington shares how he does it all. 

Farrington currently studies the violin with Ms. Lina Van. He started learning the violin when he was in fourth grade at Camino Grove Elementary School. 

“I knew it was a popular instrument, but it looked cool so I still wanted to try it,” said Farrington.

When the placement auditions for AHS orchestras came along, Farrington tried out for the Concert Orchestra, which is the highest orchestra a freshman can get into. Then, he became the concertmaster. 

“I did not expect to be concertmaster when I auditioned,” he said. “I was in disbelief and a bit worried when I found out.”

A part of being the concertmaster is leading the entire orchestra and your section. While Farrington admits that he can’t necessarily say he enjoys being the “leader,” he likes working with his peers.

“I just enjoy when we are able to fix a problem, learn a new technique, or just when we can grow together as a group,” Farrington said.

His favorite composers would be Bach, Beethoven, or Liszt; but it’s hard for him to decide because he loves all kinds of classical music from the baroque era to the romantic era. 

Orchestra recently held the annual Orchestra Benefit Dinner, and Farrington said he had lots of fun.

“When I got there, it was running late, but that gave me time to talk to my friends,” said Farrington. “The actual performance went pretty well, and at the very least it was relieving to finally finish what we were practicing for a long time. Afterward, I helped clean up with my friends which was pretty fun for me.”

Here’s what a typical school day looks like for Farrington. He goes to school anywhere from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m., and has swim morning practice three days a week. After morning practice, he goes to his classes. Following that, he goes home and eats for about an hour, plays violin for an hour, leaving the rest of the time for homework and studying. All these are done before finally going to sleep around 10:00 p.m.

While on the weekdays Farrington admits that he spends most if not all of his time doing his work, the weekends are when he has some time for himself. 

“I think it’s important that you always have some time to do what you want to do,” he said. “I always try to remind myself to do what I want, and since I enjoy it, I just end up doing it somehow. You can do a lot in a day if you try.”

Coding is a big part of Farrington’s life, and he started young because his father is a Software Engineer. He likes to create coding projects and recently focused on competitions like the U.S.A. Competing Olympiad.

Furthermore, Farrington’s love for math is displayed in his membership on the team. 

“The math team is an AHS academic team that focuses on competition math and abstract thinking,” he said. “The math that we do contains really complicated puzzles, and it’s really interesting to find out how to solve them.”

Finally, a quick round of “What’s your favorite?” revealed that Farrington likes the color blue, turtles, Korean food, and pizza, and he doesn’t eat candy often but he likes caramel. 

Though Farrington is involved in so many different things, music and orchestra play a big part in his life. During times of stress in the school day, being in an orchestra gives Farrington the chance to bond with his second family, and forge long-lasting friendships.