Sherry Du, a junior here at Hudson High School, is an incredibly talented student and an even better friend, teammate and just person in general. According to her peers, she is driven, kind, hardworking, hilarious, thoughtful and someone they know they can rely on no matter what. She is taking and has taken some of the most rigorous AP courses at Hudson, has been a varsity golfer since freshman year and is involved in a plethora of extracurricular activities both in and out of Hudson. The most impressive part about Du is that in the face of everything she does, she is incredibly personable and has been described as “a really good friend” by her coaches and peers alike. The purpose of this article is not only to highlight Du and the amazing things she does but also to portray her perspective on her life and everything that she does so people can understand the answer to the question: Who is Sherry Du?
It is no secret that Du is an excellent student, golfer and musician, but exactly how many activities is she involved in? Du gave a list consisting of golf, Spanish Honors Society, National Honors Society, Science Olympiad, which Du happens to be a Vice President of, Hudson Orchestra and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra (COYO). Du spoke enthusiastically about all of these activities and it was clear that she truly cares about and enjoys being a member of all of them. Something Du mentioned specifically about golf is that “it has been really fun and definitely a really great experience for me getting to meet all my amazing teammates.” Du is a three-year varsity golfer for Hudson and according to head coach Mr. Bolin, she is “a positive role model not only for her peers but for younger people as well.” Du also specified that she spends about four hours in Cleveland every weekend as a part of COYO and that in her spare time, she likes to practice her violin because according to Du, “if I don’t I’ll get yelled at.” This casual remark, aside from showcasing Du’s amazing sense of humor, is a great example of how dedicated she is to always doing her best.
So, how exactly does one go about managing a life as busy as this? A life like Du’s can be incredibly challenging and demanding, but as Du has gotten older she has gotten better at managing her time so that she may succeed in everything she does. “I would definitely say that time management, in and of itself as a skill that I’ve acquired, has definitely been one of my biggest challenges. Especially during my freshman year and early parts of my sophomore year, I wasn’t really effective with study techniques and that gave me a lot of grief and caused me to lose a lot of sleep.“ For Du, overcoming this challenge was a big part of her early high school career because “sometimes it meant not spending so much time on certain activities in order to prioritize others in order to have a balance of how well [she] was doing in everything overall.“ Finding the study techniques that work best for her has allowed Du to take on more and be successful in everything she does. Additionally, if Du could give one piece of advice to a freshman it would be “learn your study techniques first, and always prioritize your sleep over everything else.“ Doing these things herself has enabled Du to manage her busy schedule and still stay sane while doing it.
In order to truly understand who Sherry Du is, it is important to hear from someone who knows her well and can speak to her abilities, especially in golf. When asked to describe Du, Mr. Bolin, her golf coach, said that “Sherry is one of the most driven, motivated people that I have ever come across – and it’s not just on the golf course. It seems like anything she puts her mind to she excels and exceeds at. It’s honestly incredible how good she is at everything she does.” Mr. Bolin, or Coach Bolin as Du knows him, has coached her for three years and said that not only has her golf ability continued to improve, but also her confidence as a teammate and leader. “I think Sherry realized that she had potential in a lot of things, and I think her growth has been in deciding where she wants to utilize her talents.” Mr. Bolin also thinks that “she came with a wide range of abilities, and she’s done a really great job determining which of those things she is going to use for her future when it comes to selecting a college and career.” As her golf coach, Mr. Bolin understands and sees the amount of potential Du has, as well as her ability to continually grow in something she is already fantastic at.
Mr. Bolin also looks forward to Du’s upcoming golf season and thinks that she “has the potential to have a fantastic senior year on the golf course. I’m excited to see her senior year because this is the culmination of everything she’s been working towards, and I think both individually and as a team we have the ability to do some pretty cool things this year.” Last year Du almost made it to States, and this year both she and her coach look forward to trying to make that goal a reality. Du is an incredible golfer, but it is her qualities as a leader that set her apart from the rest. These qualities are what her coach looks the most forward to seeing this year. He shares, “it has been really awesome to see Sherry jump into a leadership position on the team whether it’s running our social media account or setting up practices in the weight room.” Past seniors have done an incredible job leading the team, and Mr. Bolin thinks that Du and her fellow seniors are doing an amazing job “taking the baton” from them and living up to the high standards they set.
By now it is clear that Du is an amazing student and golfer, but according to Bolin “what a lot of people overlook is how good of a person she is. She is a really good friend. She is reliable. She’s always there when you need her and she’ll go out of her way to do something for someone else.” Du credits her parents as her biggest inspiration and reason for who she is today. “Apart from that, I think there have always been a couple of teachers who I think have been really inspiring, and my teammates have always been a big inspiration for me. I think they show me what a leader should look like.” It is these people, Du believes, who have inspired her to be the person she is today and helped her continue to be a person they can be proud of.
Who is Sherry Du? She is everything that has just been said and so much more. She prides herself on being someone her peers can look up to, and she continues to find inspiration in those around her. She is a phenomenal student, stellar golfer, show-stopping musician, incredibly supportive friend and an all-around good person that anyone would be extremely lucky to know.
