By Janelle Lau

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As both an athlete and student, Senior Sarah Liva is challenged with balancing club sports, academics and outside activities, such as hula and Tahitian, but she persists due to her passion for her sport and the support she receives.

“Sometimes it got hard balancing both of the sports. I play volleyball and basketball and it can get really physically draining, but I just kept thinking I only have one high school career and I love the sport a lot, even when I get sick of it, I still love it and my parents and coaches and teammates always encourage me to keep pushing even when I’m down,” said Liva.

Liva’s upbeat and positive personality quickly earned her the respect and support of her teammates on the varsity girls basketball team, where she plays center. “It doesn’t matter what it is, even when we’ve lost in the (Oahu Interscholastic Association) championship game, when we lost in the state game against Punahou, she was always, ‘It’s okay guys we played our best, we laid it all out there.’ It didn’t matter what the outcome of the score was, whether we won or lost, it was always positive and that’s something that we all needed when we were down,” said Forward Junior Summer Bolibol.

With graduation just around the corner, Liva continues to work hard and strives to do her best, while maintaining the trait she values the most: humility. She got accepted to Portland State University on a full ride scholarship for volleyball, but she will continue to play basketball as well.