Running and Writing with Johanna Drews
Johanna Drews is an athlete and scholar at Krum High, and has used her talents to create an unforgettable legacy from the state cross country meet qualifier to recognition by The Scholastic Publishing Company.
Johanna uses her talent for writing poems and short stories as a way to freely express herself. She finds inspiration from pretty much anything, “It could be from a line in a song, book or poem. Though a lot comes from what I see and experience each day,” she said. Danielle, Johanna’s sister, is the person who helped Johanna pursue her writing career by giving her tips and editing her papers. The topics for most of Johanna’s work is the things that trouble her. Johanna uses her words and writing to let people know what effects her. She writes to make people pay attention to what they usually don’t see or usually ignore. When Johanna starts writing a piece, the topic is usually unknown. Her thoughts and inspiration will guide her to ideas that may not make it on the paper, or the perfect story. “But the point is the words are there and they are yours and yours only,” she said. Johanna had the honor of being recognized by Scholastic her freshman year for two different sets of 5 poems. One set was named honorable mention and the other earned a gold star. Aside for writing, Drews enjoys cross country and track. She has enjoyed running her whole life but never ran competitively until 7th grade. In middle school, other coaches would ask Coach Metcalf what kind of water Johanna was drinking because she was taking the cross country and track world by storm. Johanna’s freshman year she qualified for the state cross country meet and trained harder than she ever had before. The practices were more intense and were focused on getting her times better for the state meet. “This year is her Junior year and I see a determination in her eye to get back to State,” Cross Country coach, Cody Wilson said. “As her Coach, I'm going to be just as proud no matter how far she makes it.” The pressures of being an expressive writer and an athlete can be hard, but Johanna has dealt with them so well that she does not even notice them anymore. “I don’t pay attention to stereotypes, people will think whatever they want about me no matter what I do,” she said. Drews does not get hung up on any hateful comments because she cannot control what other people say and do. The amount of work it takes to be a successful athlete and writer is more than any of us would like to take on, but Johanna Drews has thrived under pressure.
