It’s getting late in the evening, but Aaron Jones (C ‘25) has a ways to go before he can call it a night. He’s rehearsing and re–rehearsing every move in the dance studio until each step, twirl, and gesture is etched into his memory. Aaron isn’t the only one toiling away. As a new member of the band Penn Sargam, Raghav Gopalakrishnan (W ‘28) is knee–deep in the process of adding his clarinet to the group’s rendition of the latest pop hits. 

Across campus at the Iron Gate Theatre, Alexa Dochat (C ‘27) and Madison Messner (C ‘27) are busy filling the cavernous performing space with their Chappell Roan medley. Meanwhile, Street Features writer and The Daily Pennsylvanian deputy news editor Samantha Hsiung (C ‘27) attempts to finish as much of her class work as possible, sneaking in time to practice her spoken word poetry during breaks. Julie Shin (C ‘26) takes another approach, sacrificing sleep to balance her schoolwork with rehearsals for two different dance groups. 

Now in her last semester at Penn, Sophia Leung (C ‘25) is savoring the time she has left with her a cappella group, excited to take on the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella one more time. In her first year with a different a cappella group, Ishani Wadhwa (C ‘27) is just getting started, warming up her vocal cords after a brief post–high school hiatus.

Anyone who has dared to enter Platt Student Performing Arts House knows that being part of any performing arts group is its own part–time job. There are late–night rehearsals, hell weeks, and, not to mention, a sudden disaster like the roof collapsing the day before a performance. Some even compare these artists to student–athletes, where rehearsals are practices and a cappella nationals are basically the NCAA Championships. 

But these eight students know just how true that comparison would be. After all, they do both. 

Troy Bolton. Finn Hudson. Archie Andrews. Everyone loves a jock who can sing. The dichotomy of artist and athlete seems almost paradoxical: They tap into entirely different skill sets, attract different personalities, and both demand 110%. 

Street was able to identify only eight students at Penn who are part of an official performing arts group and rostered on one of Penn’s Division I athletics teams. In college though, balancing both artistic passion and athletic pursuits is nothing like a teenage drama. Instead of worrying about their fellow jocks beating them up when they discover that the quarterback can sing—these student’s enemies are the hustle of Penn life and a never–ending game of Google Calendar Jenga. 

Most of these student–athletes are not planning on pursuing either athletics or art as a career post–graduation. Yet while at Penn, these commitments are their everything. Despite the sacrifices required, to choose between their art and their sport would be sacrificing part of themselves. 

For some of these double threats, their dual investment in arts and athletics began before college.

Photo Courtesy of Raghav Gopalakrishnan

Raghav, despite being a track and field and cross country student–athlete here at Penn, didn’t always run. He started his athletic career at the age of five as a soccer player, before switching to long–distance running in middle school. 

But while he was making strides on the track, Raghav was also well on his way to becoming an accomplished musician. When his parents insisted he pick up an instrument, he chose the clarinet—taking it all the way to Carnegie Hall as a high school student. In addition to undergoing Western classical training, Raghav also learned how to play Indian classical music. 

“I was able to really combine the two styles—that was something that was really unique,” Raghav says. “And I think that hit home culturally, and so that just became a part of my life.”

Raghav goes out of his way to keep it that way. Even before he stepped foot on campus, he knew that he wanted to audition for Sargam, a South Asian fusion music ensemble, after learning about the group through an upperclassman friend from his hometown. So far, he’s enjoyed his time with the band—although he is quickly realizing that finding time for both running and performing in college is a formidable challenge. 

“In retrospect, it might not have been the best decision. I’ve still yet to find out,” Raghav says. “I definitely don’t regret it. I think for me, I just knew what I wanted to do. These were all things that I’ve … been doing for eight–plus years at this point.”

Ishani, who is on the women’s squash team, takes a slightly different approach. Despite playing squash and singing consistently since the end of elementary school, she came to Penn unsure about her commitment to either group. She wasn’t a recruited athlete, but she still managed to walk onto the squash team in her freshman year. 

During her first summer home, Ishani realized how much she missed music and singing. When she returned to campus in the fall, she decided to join Atma—Penn’s premier female and nonbinary South Asian a cappella group. 

“For most of my time, I was always doing both [squash and singing],” Ishani says. “And it sort of felt off to not be doing both. So I’m really glad that I started doing that again.”

While both Raghav and Ishani have been actively engaging in the arts and sports since their childhoods, that isn’t necessarily the case for everyone. Others were student–athletes first but decided to give performing arts a shot later on in high school or even after coming to Penn. 

Photo Courtesy of Julie Shin

Julie is a member of the women’s golf team and also a part of two dance groups on campus: k–Beats and Hype Dance Crew. A late bloomer, she didn’t start dancing until she was in high school. Before then, she was rushing back and forth between hitting the links and figure skating in the rink. As she started high school and struggled to fulfill each activity’s demanding time commitment, Julie decided to step back from skating to focus on golf. 

“With skating, what I enjoyed about it [was] definitely the artistic aspect,” Julie says. “After I stopped skating, I had a hard time knowing what to do with my secondary passion of performing.”

One day, while she was scrolling through her Instagram feed, Julie came across a reel featuring a girl performing a K–pop dance cover. The video acted as her inspiration to start learning dances on her own, culminating with her decision to form her high school’s first K–pop dance team that performed at pep rallies and talent shows.

As a first–year student, she was advised against joining a performing arts group by her teammates on the golf team. Although she listened at first, her passion gradually superseded her fear as she chose to join k–Beats during her sophomore year. 

“It made my college experience so much better compared to freshman year,” says Julie. “I was way happier.”

A year later, Julie made the decision to also join Hype. Because Hype has a reputation for being a much more time–intensive dance troupe, she initially struggled to keep up with the group’s time commitments. However, because she wasn’t willing to sacrifice performing with both dance groups for golf and vice versa, she made things work.

“I don’t really value my sleep as much as I should,” Julie admits. “But I think I am lucky [that] … I don’t need as much sleep … to be able to function throughout the day, which I think has definitely helped me be able to manage.” 

Photo Courtesy of Alexa Dochat

Alexa, now on the Penn women’s track and field throwing team, started throwing her first year of high school. Six years before that, she made her performing arts debut in her elementary school Peter Pan musical at the age of eight. From starring in the role of Michael to opening for the Rockettes with Quaker Notes—Penn’s oldest a cappella group—Alexa has come a long way as a performer.

But it wasn’t until her sophomore year at Penn that she joined the all–female singing group. 

In high school, because Alexa’s coach was her dad, balancing choir and throwing was never too hard. Her throwing practices were structured around her mandatory rehearsals. This wasn’t true at the collegiate level, where Alexa quickly discovered that academics and athletics were both full–time jobs. As a result, she didn’t participate in any performing arts groups during her first year, instead giving herself time to adjust to her new environment.

When she returned for her sophomore year, Alexa resolved to pick up performing again. 

“Last year, I just missed it like crazy. I missed performing. I missed singing—it’s right up there with track [as one of my] favorite things to do,” Alexa says.

Alexa checked in with her throwing coach Isaiah Simmons, who told her that it wouldn’t be an issue at all if performing was something that made her happy as long as it didn’t significantly interfere with her throwing. This last qualifying clause was what ultimately steered Alexa in the direction of the a cappella groups over the even more time–intensive theater organizations. 

While none of her singing skills directly translate to the field, Alexa found that her participation in Quaker Notes has helped her with her mental game. A cappella rehearsals give her a chance to reset—a sentiment that is rarely evoked from the act of throwing—so that she can stay on top of her A–game when needed during practices and meets. 

For these students, it’s not a choice. They don’t see themselves as athletes doing art or artists doing sports. Instead, both are equally important aspects of their identities. 



While participating in art and athletics requires twice the commitment, it also creates twice the community. 

Photo Courtesy of Aaron Jones

Aaron, a running back on the football team, grew up as a multi–sport athlete, just like Julie. In high school, he was a member of the varsity football, basketball, and track and field teams. Despite his high school career being cut short due to the COVID–19 pandemic, Aaron made the most of his time as a student–athlete. 

As a two–time captain of the football team, he helped lead his high school to its first state playoff appearance in school history in 2019. His performance on the gridiron was more than enough to catch the attention of recruiters. The Quakers were the third school to give him the opportunity to play collegiate ball, and it was a no–brainer for Aaron, who wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father Abraham Jones (C ‘89), a cornerback on the 1985–89 Penn rosters. 

In his first semester at Penn, Aaron felt that he had a little too much free time on his hands since he was taking a light course load, leading him to join Onda Latina—Penn’s Latin dance troupe.

Although Aaron had some dance experience, before joining the dance troupe, he had never danced salsa before. While there was initially a steep learning curve, he spent hours outside of rehearsal perfecting each move, and, in the process, found a community that he could rely on.

“We’ll dance together, we’ll study together, we’ll hang out together,” Aaron says. “There really isn’t anything that we don’t do together.”

Aaron’s passion for dancing has been shaped by being born deaf. To help him communicate with others, he wears a cochlear implant. For him, being deaf isn’t something that is a barrier when it comes to dancing. He has performed a solo in an Onda show despite being unable to hear the music, instead placing his trust in the endless hours of practice he has undergone to ensure that he hits every beat.

“Dancing is a language without verbal communication,” he says. “You can meet a lot of people, have fun with anybody, become friends with anybody. It doesn’t matter where they're from, their backgrounds—through dancing, you can find a connection with just about anybody.”

Samantha, a foilist on the women’s fencing team, found her community by joining The Excelano Project—Penn’s first spoken word group. While she was lunging and feinting her way deeper into the sport in middle school, she was simultaneously discovering her knack for creative writing. 

“The community aspect was something that I really wanted because I think that in college, a lot of the people that you’re going to be seeing on a consistent basis are definitely people that you see in clubs,” Samantha says. 

Photo Courtesy of Madi Messner

Madi knew she was going to audition for Quaker Notes as far back as Quaker Days, when she attended a performance by the group—where she met her current roommate and Quaker Notes teammate. However, joining the heavyweight rowing team as a coxswain wasn’t on her radar until she came to campus. In fact, Madi came in with no prior experience in a longboat but was able to officially join the team after a two–month trial period put in place by the coach.

Doing both requires early mornings and late nights. But for her, getting to start and end her day with activities that she’s excited about is more than worth the trouble. And it certainly doesn’t hurt that the support she gets from her rowing teammates at her shows guarantees that one row in Iron Gate Theatre will constantly be competing to be the loudest. 

“I really had nothing to lose and I had so much to gain because now I’m a part of these two things that I love so much,” she says.

Madi isn’t alone in her attempts to balance rowing and performing. Sophia, who is a part of Penny Loafers, is also a coxswain on the heavyweight rowing team.

Unlike Madi, Sophia has been a rower since middle school. When she stopped growing after hitting puberty, she made the logical decision to become a coxswain. Still, she had to walk onto the team at Penn. And while Madi was able to secure a spot on her dream a cappella group right away, it took Sophia three tries before being accepted to the Penny Loafers. Instead, she stayed involved in music as a first year by joining Penn Chorale. 

“There are 17 groups and like a million people that want to do performing arts at Penn, so it was really competitive. But I knew that music was really important to me,” Sophia says.

After joining Penny Loafers her sophomore spring, Sophia needed time to adjust to the realities of partaking in two time–intensive extracurricular activities.

“During my sophomore year, I was still under the impression that I was unstoppable and could stay up super late and get up super early, and I’d be fine,” Sophia says. “I actually slept through a rowing practice one time, which has haunted me to this day.” 

Waking up at 8 a.m. to several missed calls from her teammates and coaches was a wake–up call of its own. To commit herself to both performing and athletics, Sophia was forced to be more mindful about taking care of her body—something she hadn’t necessarily put a lot of thought into up until that point. 

Fortunately for her, Sophia had someone she could look to for advice. Gianna LaBella (N ‘23) was a few years older than Sophia and was also involved in the performing arts while being a coxswain on the heavyweight rowing team. Sophia found herself admiring Gianna’s ability to do both. Now, Sophia finds herself in this role–model position for Madi. 

“It can be almost isolating sometimes to be involved in such different things because there are not a lot of people at rowing who are able to relate very much to my experiences in performing arts, and there are not a lot of people in performing arts who are able to relate to my experiences in rowing,” Sophia says. “So I hope that I’m able to provide that kind of connection for her.”



Athletes at the collegiate level are at the pinnacle of their sport. To achieve such status, many have to make sacrifices, which include stepping away from the performing arts at earlier stages, such as in high school. The same can be said for the performing arts. For many performers, their performing group is essentially their sports team. Only people who are truly passionate about both would bother attempting the double–stacked schedule. 

It certainly takes its toll on these eight students. For all of them, that stress becomes more apparent during busier weeks such as those leading up to major sports tournaments or shows. The exhaustion that comes with being on the move nonstop while rushing to turn in assignments before a midnight deadline and preparing for midterm season is a hallmark of a lifestyle that certainly isn’t suitable for everyone. Yet somehow, amid the sleepless nights and constant stress, these student–artist–athletes make it look effortless. 

“I think people probably don’t realize that it’s manageable,” Alexa says. “I don’t think people realize that all it takes is a nice schedule and communication to realize that you can do both.”

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