Senior Spotlight: Palomaki finds excellence at land and at sea
Senior Isaac Palomaki tackles challenges both above and below water as a tri-sport athlete participating in soccer, swim, and track and field. The soccer team’s success last year became a personal highlight for him.
“Out of all, winning conference last year was my favorite memory; it’s a really big thing at our school for soccer,” he said.
The highs of that season didn’t come without personal lows for Palomaki.
“At the beginning of last season, I sprained my ankle in soccer, but I was able to recover relatively quickly,” he said. “COVID also impacted me last year. I missed three weeks of practice and swim. Missing practices makes a big difference.”
Palomaki keeps himself busy when not bombarded by one of his many sports. Outside of sports, he participates in music classes and occasional gambling.
“I play violin in the orchestra which is fun,” he said. “I play poker a lot with my friends.”
Palomaki advises underclassmen to find their place in school extracurriculars.
“Go out for clubs and activities, I feel like if you don’t do that, you’re missing out on a lot,” he said.
By far, one of his favorite memories with friends at school is the annual Snowblast week.
“I love trying to make the human pyramid and then failing,” he said. “That whole Snowblast week, every year I’ve done it has been fun.”
He has personal goals he would like to accomplish for his senior year.
“For swimming, I broke a personal record last year. My event is the 100 fly and I finally got it in under a minute,” he said. “I’d like to beat it again.”
Palomaki has discovered that certain methods don’t always work for personal growth.
“If something fails, don’t do it the same way again, it won’t work the second time either, no matter how much you hope it does,” he said. “I learned that the hard way; in swim my freshman year, my time was one minute and three seconds for my 100 fly. My sophomore year I came in and did the exact same as the year prior expecting to set a new record and it didn’t work.”
His junior year, he tried a different tactic to achieve the goals he was reaching for, and that's when things fell into place.
“I started my season before the actual season started and because I changed what I did, I actually got a better result,” he said.
Beyond swim, he has goals for the track team as well.
“I think it would be cool to make it to state, either for relay or individual,” he said.
He hopes to continue with some of his sports beyond high school.
“I’d like to play intramural soccer and I’d like to swim on my own time,” he said.
He also has plans in mind for where his future in school will be.
“I hope to get accepted into college, hopefully at Madison. I’m still finishing my essays,” he said.
Palomaki also has teachers at the school he can reach out to if he needs.
“I think my most inspirational teacher is Mr. Webster,” he said. “He was always able to lighten my day and give me advice when I needed it.”
At the end of the day, Palomaki is most proud of his resiliency.
“Even though every year feels like it just keeps getting harder, and I just want to drop out of high school, I remind myself never to give up.”
by Addi Isely
Published October 30 2023
Oshkosh West Index Volume 120 Issue II