Congratulations, Class of 2025! The start of summer means the new Bellevue High School graduates are navigating their futures and preparing for university. With orders of mini fridges, shower shoes, and new bedsheets, these graduates are ready to start a new life. One of these students is Sara Ikeda, a recent graduate of BHS and an active player in her own niche: music.

Sara is one of the young disc jockeys for KEXP's program, which provides students with real-world experience creating setlists, managing radio shows, and operating a board. The KEXP radio station is a nonprofit organization that plays music determined by DJs. A major characteristic of the station is that it does not run advertisements and is non-commercial, which is appealing to many listeners.

Sara discovered this opportunity while volunteering at the Seattle Aquarium as a Teen Ambassador. Another volunteer at the aquarium was a DJ at KEXP, which provoked Sara's initial interest in the program. "I remember asking how she did it and thought, wow. That's so cool," said Sara. She got accepted into the program and went under the alias Solar Pulse for her shows. In the program, she took classes on creating playlists and operating the DJ board, which she remarked were "kind of difficult to get the hang of and took me around two or three times to fully understand the functions." Her routine to create a set included timing up songs to fade in and out, setting up mic breaks to talk in between songs, writing scripts, and editing the recording, as the radio is prerecorded.

Sara's first show theme focused on recognizing female artists. "I make sure there is a variety of genres in my sets and not just indie music, even though it is my favorite. I try to include a combination of, for example, rap, jazz, and pop, just so listeners have something familiar and new to hear," Sara explained. One of the goals of KEXP is to recognize local artists in the Pacific Northwest to help launch their careers, so in every set, Sara included artists mostly from Seattle and in the studio, and even got to "hear local artists perform because they would come in and sing their songs." If you would like to listen to Sara's last radio show in October, access it through the KEXP app or website KEXP.org, or the radio at 90.3FM for Seattle and 92.7FM for the Bay Area.

However, outside the radio station, Sara continues her passion for music through BHS’s marching and jazz bands. She has been playing the flute since fifth grade and later picked up the saxophone for jazz band, and the piccolo to qualify for the All-State orchestra. “I was inspired by the seniors who played the piccolo and decided to audition for All-State with the piccolo, despite it not being a popular instrument,” she said. Sara ended up being the only piccolo to qualify in her band and got to play both the flute and piccolo. Consequently, she connects much of her identity to music as it seemingly exists in every facet of her life.

 

“Music to me is not just performing in a band, but also attending concerts and, in general, talking to people about songs and events. It has helped me build so many connections with ‘random’ people and gained me many friendships and opportunities. If it was not for me connecting with my friend at the aquarium about music, I would not have become a DJ, and if it was not for being in band, I would not learn piccolo and qualify for All-State,” said Sara.

Beyond music, Sara is also involved in other school clubs like Speech and Debate. As a two-time National Tournament qualifier, she jokes that “Speech and Debate are my life.” She notes that the activity has “drastically changed” her teamwork skills and coordination, as all her partners are different. “By doing these competitions every weekend, I realized it is important to know that winning is not everything, even though it is hard to change your perspective like that. You should be doing activities for the experiences and friendships.”

 

Sara plans on pursuing the university pre-law track in the fall. She hopes to bring her love of doing new activities with her to college, urging underclassmen to do the same, as you meet the best, yet most unexpected people when you change your routine.