15 Minutes with Noah Allen
Interview by Bailey Bowers
Photos by Noah Allen
Tell us about being homeschooled. What are the best and worst parts about it?
So to clarify about homeschooling in general, the reason I choose to be homeschooled (and the reason my parents gave me the opportunity) is that it gives me the ability to expand my worldview and mind. Why? Because I’m not taught what someone wants me to be taught but I can develop my own ideas about the world - it’s less consuming and more thinking.
Homeschooling also gives me the ability to take school at my own pace and in my own time. If I was in public school, it’d be hard to do all the work I’m planning on doing throughout the school year.
On the flip side, you have to manage your own time, which is extremely hard and is something I haven’t quite conquered yet. A lot of people might wonder about the social life of homeschoolers - do we have any friends? Well, yes, I have tons of friends, and many of them are homeschooled as well.
For instance, homeschool co-ops are amazing opportunities for me to connect with all kinds of different people, and I’ve made some great friends through those. A co-op would be when you meet once a week with a bunch of other homeschoolers and have class then - and the homework is completed throughout the week.
I also know a few people in the public school through soccer or church. There are a lot of stereotypes about homeschoolers (awkward, nerdy, weird, or hermits), but I think my brothers and I do a good job of overcoming those!
Are you already thinking about the next step in your educational career?
Well, I actually just finished my junior year in high school. (I just turned 17.) At this point there are so many options is extremely hard for me to choose what to do with my future. Right now I’m looking at Bowling Green State University and Grove City College, which is a private Christian school in western Pennsylvania. I’m currently debating what kind of school I want to go to and how much money I want to spend on my education.
Do you have an idea of your dream job?
Well, this is also still up in the air, but I have so many options available that it’s hard to choose what would be my dream. I could follow my photography skills or be a pianist or even try to get into the cinematography world. However, I’m pretty sure I’ll go into computer science and pursue a future in developing apps and stuff like that. I’ll still keep those other skills as hobbies and, especially with music, and even try to make some money off of them.
As you just mentioned, you’re very musically inclined. What are all of the instruments do you play? Do you have a favorite? What is your advice to someone who is starting to learn music or a new instrument?
Music is one of the things I’m most passionate about. I really only play one instrument very well, which is the piano. However, I can play a little bit of guitar, violin, viola, and mandolin. I’m also versatile with hand drums, but those don’t count in my opinion since it’s really just a rhythm (and you pick that up by playing everything else.)
Advice to young musicians… It’s hard to say. One thing that I did that vastly improved my playing was reaching above and beyond my currently musical “level.” For instance, I was in level 5 or 6 of piano, nearing the end of whatever book series I was doing, when I was extremely interested in Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata. No, not the sorrowful first movement nor the timid second. I wanted to play the swift and powerful third movement.
So I asked Connie Lehman (my music teacher at the time) to get the music for it, and I spent months working on that one piece. And I learned it. It took me close to a year, and it was still quite choppy by the time I learned it, but when I finished, my hands were so versatile that pretty much every single musical piece out there was open to me.
So for novice musicians, try to reach way above your level and learn something that is beyond your abilities, because that will increase your skill more than any theory or technique or scales ever can. In fact, I’m pretty shoddy on theory and don’t know the scales as well as I could, but the experience of learning extremely difficult pieces is so much more beneficial (and fun) that my skills outweigh my knowledge.
Also, sight reading and improvising with chords can be very helpful. Chords just take a lot of practice and messing around with to learn, but you can have so much fun with them because they are your own creations.
You have also been very active in 4-H. What have been your favorite projects and parts of 4-H?
This is my ninth year, but I’ve been active ever since I was in third grade. My favorite projects were my two years of Lego Robotics as well as the two years of Photography (levels two and three). I won state in all four, and I won outstanding of the day for my first robotics project and my second photography project. I love photography, but am still learning.
What do you like about photography? Do you have a favorite subject matter?
I just love the ability to capture the beauty of creation. Some of my favorite subject matters are sunsets, sunrises, and nature.
What’s it like to have such a large family?
I have five brothers and a sister and it can get really loud around the house. There are pros and cons to it. You’ve got great interaction with all the different people, but for someone like myself (who can be more quiet and subdued), it can be annoying at times. Overall, it’s been a pretty good experience and has helped me mature a lot.
What’s your favorite thing about Ada?
I love the peaceful feel around town and the general beauty of the area. We have amazing sunsets nearly every evening, and I get great views out in the country with it being so flat around here.
Thanks for talking with us, Noah
Photos at bottom are Noah's self-portrait and a photo he took.
