High school in itself is stressful, and on top of that, many students have extra-curricular activities and hours of homework each night. For one high school student, after-school hours are dedicated to something more than academics.

Senior Jennifer Ahn has a plan: to pursue the violin as a career. In order to achieve this a goal, it takes more than just attending orchestra class at school. Ahn spends her after school hours at private violin lessons and hours worth of practicing per night on her own. Not only does she perform in the orchestra in Omaha, but she often also is invited to play in orchestras around the country. In March, she’ll be performing with an orchestra in Minnesota.

This dream is taken as seriously as a job. Over breaks, Ahn spends up to eight hours a day sharpening her skills.

In October, Ahn auditioned for the Music Teacher’s National Association competition. She was the only one competing senior strings category in Nebraska, she made it into regionals a few weeks ago held at North Dakota University.“I’ve gone onto regionals before,” Ahn said. “This is my third time. I wasn’t really confident. I was like ‘I’ll just be myself, you know, perform the way I normally do,’ and usually that works out pretty well.”

Ahn won her regional category out of students from eight other states. She will be headed to the national competition being held in Las Vegas March 22. The national competition requires to play at least 30 minutes continuously with music from at least two different time periods to show-off different techniques.

However, this extensive preparation has taken a toll on her. The summer going into her sophomore year, Ahn developed tendonitis in her wrists. At first, the pain was only located in her right forearm and wrist, but later developed in her left arm as well. Even though she experienced pain from her tendonitis, slowing down her rate of practicing is not an option.

Although Ahn’s tendonitis has gotten more manageable, it is a slow recovery process because of the changes in amount of time Ahn practices. Ahn went to see a doctor who recommended a physical therapist, but due to her busy schedule, she couldn’t fit it in to her routine. Instead, when she experiences pain, Ahn resorts to braces, Icy Hot packets — and most importantly — stretching.“[I] pretty much do what athletes do — stretch before going into practice and cooling down afterwards,” Ahn said. “It’s the same thing. Music kind of is a sport after all.”

With competitions, performances and college auditions to do, Ahn has trained herself to deal with the pain. Because her recovery has been successful so far, Ahn is confident she’ll be able to perform her best and continue in the future.“I am [nervous] for the long term,” Ahn said. “I’ve kind of almost have had to reteach myself when I play to have less tension,” Ahn said.

Not many as young as Ahn experience such intense tendonitis. Usually, most cases of people her age range from pain last two to three days while she has experienced it for up to nine months at a time. Yet, this set back has never made her stop performing.“I don’t like stopping for performances so even if I do feel pain, I’ll push through it and recover afterwards,” Ahn said.

Despite the struggles and the unknowns if Ahn’s tendonitis will ever fully heal, she remains positive that she’ll always pursue her love for music.“No matter what, I’m going to keep going after becoming a musician,” Ahn said. “It is pretty much the main goal I have out there.”