When freshman Shiloh Hendrickse watched her older sister, junior Imogen Hendrickse, pick up the violin, and later her other sister, Cosette, do the same, it was only natural to follow in the footsteps of her siblings. Shiloh Hendrickse, now in her first year at McCallum, is an orchestra major like her sisters. She has played the violin since she was in kindergarten, and has played soccer consistently for the past eight years and is now on the varsity soccer team and in the orchestra.

Shiloh didn’t feel pressured to pick up the violin because her other sisters had. Rather, she was instead inspired by them to begin playing. While at first, she didn’t enjoy practicing, she has grown to appreciate her skill and dedication to the instrument.

“I am really grateful that I stuck with it because it’s given me a lot of great opportunities,” Shiloh said. “I get to play in All-Region, in UIL, All-City, and ACMC, which has been really incredible.” 

Imogen feels that the violin became a part of Shiloh’s life even before she began to play it for herself.

“Being surrounded by that environment all the time, like coming home and hearing me and my sister practicing, I think it really instilled a value for music in her,” Imogen said. 

Shiloh attended to the Girls School of Austin where she attended kindergarten through eighth grade. It is a fairly small school, so there weren’t really school sports that would allow her to pursue soccer as she had violin.

“I played club soccer outside of school since there was no team, and we also had a really small orchestra,” she said. “It was only about a maximum of 10 people at one time, but it was good because I got to be kind of a leader since I was one of few who took private violin lessons.” 

Freshman Luella Fincher-McConnell attended the Girls School of Austin with Shiloh and played soccer with her. Fincher-McConnell has known Imogen since she was 4 years old and said ever since then she has been a great friend to her and also very determined. 

“She’s very hard-working and cares a lot about her friends and the people around her,” Fincher-McConnell said. “As a soccer player, she tries her best all the time and tries to help her teammates out, making sure everyone is doing the best they can.” 

Also in orchestra, Fincher-McConnell has been able to observe Shiloh’s dedication to practicing and her willingness to learn. 

“We were in the same orchestra class from kindergarten through eighth grade, and she was so determined,” Fincher-McConnell said. “She practices so much that when we go on trips with her family over the summer, she brings her violin and practices every day.” 

While Fincher-McConnell stopped playing the violin last year, she is also in the soccer program at McCallum and is excited to cheer on her friend in both violin and soccer. Shiloh’s two older sisters Cosette and Imogen, a past and a current orchestra major at McCallum, influenced Shiloh’s decision to apply to the fine arts program, but as her mom made sure, was not the only factor. 

“One of the things when choosing a high school was that my mom wanted to make sure that I chose it for myself, not just because of my sisters,” Shiloh said. “Definitely seeing Immie and Cosie go through was definitely a factor because getting to come to their concerts and seeing everything, it seemed like a really good program.” 

Imogen recalls their mother telling them how they should have three forms of education in their life, an academic, musical and active education. 

“She really instilled this value of being active and doing music,” Imogen said. And so it was always expected of us to do soccer or to do some sort of physical activity. But Shiloh immediately showed a passion for it and it came really naturally to her.”

Imogen, who played soccer at McCallum her freshman year, chose to stop playing after the first year and focus on violin more extensively. 

“I’ve always expressed more of an interest in violin than soccer, whereas Shiloh, it was kind of the other way around,” she said. “But now it’s a little more even for her.” 

Throughout all the years she has been playing violin, Shiloh recalls a moment in eighth grade, which made her question the future of violin and soccer.

“I was like ‘Wait, what if I just stop violin altogether’ like maybe I would pursue soccer more,” she said. “I’m really grateful that I can still play soccer now, but I am really glad that I stuck with violin.” 

Shiloh is unaware currently if she will be able to continue playing soccer in the next couple of years, as her orchestra classes will ramp up, and she may not have time for it anymore. 

“I’m not sure if I would have an elective in my schedule for soccer, but we’ll see,” she said. “They’re really sweet about things, and sometimes there’s a way you can figure it out.” 

While Shiloh has no current plan of stopping soccer to play more violin, it is a possibility she sees coming but still believes that choosing either will be beneficial to her for the rest of her life.

“The beautiful thing about both of these things, like a sport like soccer and an instrument like violin, is that they are things you can keep with you throughout your life,” she said. “My stepfather, Richard, he’s 60 now and he still plays soccer in his over-50’s league. And some of the best violinists and musicians are in their 70s, so I’d really like to keep doing both, but as high school goes on I think violin will probably be prioritized.”

Imogen, who was met with a similar issue her freshman year, believes that Shiloh will choose whichever extracurricular gives her more happiness.

“I think at the end of the day, it’s going to come down to whichever one gives her the most liberty in her academics and the most time to focus on her academics,” Imogen said. “She’s so invested in both of them, so I think it just comes down to which passion she feels gives her the most.”

Despite violin and soccer being very different extracurriculars, Shiloh said she has managed to see a similarity in the two.

“I get to play in the orchestra here at McCallum, and our directors are really great and everyone is really sweet and kind,” she said. “It’s a similar thing to when you play soccer, and when you’re on the field. It’s fun to be a part of a team and do something you all enjoy together.” 

Both extracurriculars have been able to provide Shiloh with opportunities to travel and play each respectively all over the country, and even the world. At the beginning of last year, January 2023, Shiloh and Imogen had an opportunity to go abroad to France for a music festival. She got to take lessons with another renowned teacher.

“We got to have lessons with some really cool teachers, and hear them perform,” Shiloh said. “We even had this chance to play this really cool Middle Eastern piece, which is interesting because the music there is completely different, and the notes aren’t the same. Everything is like a quarter-step or something up.” 

The violin has more worldly opportunities for Shiloh than soccer has, but from her long-time club soccer experience, she has been able to travel across the country to different places. This is the first year she has stopped playing club soccer, but in previous years she played on a team at Lonestar FC and played at the GA (Girls Academy) level, which provided her with opportunities to play games in other cities, and states.

“We got to play some tournaments like in California, and St. Louis, and that was really cool,” she said. “We’ve also gotten to play in college showcases where there are scouts, so both [violin and soccer] have given me lots of cool opportunities.” 

Halfway through her freshman year, Shiloh has three more years ahead of her to figure out the involvement of violin and soccer in her life, and she is constantly inspired by her sisters. 

“For violin, it’s honestly cheesy, but Immie is definitely an inspiration for me,” she said. “I’d really like to get to be as dedicated to violin as her, and advance to All-Region. I just think it’s really cool how good she is.” 

Outside of school, Shiloh hopes to take violin with her into her adulthood, as a pastime she can enjoy without the stress of practicing every day.

“I’d like to get to the point where I still enjoy playing violin, and I can pretty much play what I want,” she said. “There are certain pieces that are so beautiful, and I’d love to play, but I’m just not quite at that level yet.” 

As far as soccer goes, Shiloh hopes to get her confidence and her love of the game back and have fun with something she can continue with for the rest of her life.