Junior Ezra Miles is not the average high schooler. He may hang out with his friends, take challenging AP classes and like creating memes, similar to many others his age, but Miles is the only WHS student who partakes in Chamber Choir, orchestra and the theater program.  

“I’ve been doing orchestra since the fifth grade,” Miles said. “I did choir in the eighth grade and then didn’t do it freshman year, but then I jumped back in sophomore year…and I’ve been doing theater since the seventh grade.”

While Miles may have officially started his Washington fine art career in fifth grade, he has always felt a strong connection to music.

“My family is a very musical family,” Miles said. “Growing up we listened to music all the time—my dad would play guitar all the time just for entertainment…then one day I was listening to  music and I was like, ‘you know, I want to be able to play this music.’”

Balancing homework with learning lines, practicing the viola and rehearsing with all of his ensembles, this 16- year-old has had to effectively manage his hours outside of school.

“[The most challenging part is] practicing on my own time,” Miles said. “…It’s easy when you’re in class or in practice, but when you’re at home you’re kind of like, ‘I could be doing other things, I don’t really need to practice [or] I have time at school to do that’.”

Since freshman year, Miles has had multiple musical roles including the Walrus in “Alice in Wonderland” (2015), Cosmo Brown in “Singing in the Rain” (2016) and Lumiére in “Beauty and the Beast” (2017).

“I goof around a lot, but you know that’s one of best parts of theater,” Miles said. “Improvisation like goofing around really helps me with staying loose. If someone drops a line, being able to pick that right up by being goofy.”

Though orchestra, theater and choir can all be very challenging and time-consuming, they can be very rewarding activities.  

“It will be very tough,” Miles said. “The people around you will get annoying, but they’ll also be your best friends.”