Every student at Highland Park has a quality that sets them apart. For some, extreme

academic success creates their individuality. For others, it may be a proclivity for the fine arts.

However, for freshman Patrick Reynolds, his propensity for hockey truly defines his

individuality as a student at our school.

“I spend about 16 hours each week playing hockey or doing something hockey related,”

Reynolds said. “Unless I decide to go into the professional leagues later in life, I’m not sure I

want to have a hockey based career.”

Spending so much time on hockey has made it difficult for Reynolds to do much else

with his time, such as hanging out with friends and school work. Reynolds plays for HC Dallas

U18 AAA, an elite travel team in Dallas. Because his team travels, he often has to miss many

days of school at a time. Staying determined to keep up with school work while still focusing on

hockey has proved difficult, but not impossible.

“Now that I’m in high school, it’s been significantly more difficult to keep up with school

work. I try to go into as many tutorials as I can for my harder classes to make up for it, but

missing school is really hard. It’s definitely made maintaining connections with new people that

don’t really understand the time commitment that hockey involves more difficult.”

Despite the lack of extra time needed to do things that aren’t hockey, Reynolds’ remains

undaunted by the difficulty of time management. After spending around 11 years of devoting his

time, his busy schedule seems ordinary to him now.

“I started playing hockey when I was only four years old. After playing the sport for so

long, I’ve not only had a fun time, but I’ve had the opportunity to learn some very valuable life

lessons, such as the importance of working as a team. However, I think the most valuable lesson

I’ve learned is determination, which has also helped me in school. Whenever I feel stressed

about an assignment or am nervous about a game, remembering to be determined to achieve

success sets me on the path to victory.”

Even though we don’t know if we’ll be seeing Reynolds on our TV screens playing

professional hockey in 15 years, his hard work has set him apart as an individual at Highland

Park, and the lessons he’s learned from many years of playing a team sport will continue to

translate to both his academic and hockey goals.