Oliver Harrington

You’d be hard-pressed to find senior Oliver Harrington without a pair of drumsticks in his hands. As a four-year band major and member of the Samba Knights and Knights of Steel, Harrington has fully immersed himself in the world of Mac percussion. 

“Being a percussionist is really nice because you’re kind of uniquely positioned in that you can participate in a bunch of different ensembles,” Harrington said. “Like I’m a band major but I also have performed with the orchestra and the choir and musicals.”

Harrington frequented the MacTheater pit this past year, first as a musician for Pippin 

“The combination of band, choir, orchestra, theatre and tech theatre students all working towards one common goal is such a cool thing to be a part of,” Harrington said. “And the level of talent throughout the entire cast, crew and orchestra was incredible.”

Harrington returned in the spring as the conductor for Cows: The Moosical, where he led rehearsals and composed all while balancing rigorous academic coursework. 

“It was one of the most stressful and rewarding experiences of my four years here at McCallum,” Harrington said. “Would I do it again? Definitely not. But was I glad I did it? Absolutely.” 

Harrington hopes to take his multifaceted musical skills with him to the University of Texas at Austin next year, even though he plans to earn a degree in engineering. 

“I’m definitely going to continue playing steel pan in college as part of UT’s steelband program,” Harrington said.” 

Overall, he will miss McCallum’s unparalleled sense of community. 

“People are super diverse and everybody’s very accepting,” Harrington said. “And I feel like it’s a special environment here in contrast to a lot of high schools. I feel like it was the school for me.”

Band major (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th), Outstanding Freshman, All-State Orchestra member (11th, 12th), All-Region Band member (9th, 10th, 11th, 12th), All-Region Orchestra member (10th, 11th), All-City Band member (12th), Fine Arts Academy Ambassador for Band (11th, 12th), Percussion Section Leader (11th, 12th)

CTE Engineering (9th, 10th, 11th)

NHS (11th, 12th)

Samba Knights (9th, 11th, 12th)