This June, 504 seniors will graduate from BASH, ready to take on what comes next. Among them is Stephen Dudas, whose time here has been defined by an impressive mix of talent, drive, and achievement.
Stephen has been into music for many years, joining the school orchestra in third grade. Originally, he played the cello, but he changed his instrument to violin in fourth grade, which is what he’s been playing ever since. He joined the Reading Symphony Youth Orchestra in Freshman year, and Stephen made Districts, Regions, and All-State Orchestra for the past two years. Stephen says he, “always has been interested in string instruments, and wanted to play violin for a long time.” He says he joined the Youth Orchestra because, “I wanted to be around people who were very serious about playing their instruments.” When talking about doing Districts, Regions, and All-State Orchestra, he says, “I wanted to compete with others and gain more experience from different conductors and other people my age who may be better than me.”
As well as being in those different music programs, he also is a boy scout, where he will become an Eagle Scout in May, and he’s also been a part of Stage Crew since Sophomore year.
Stephen is very adventurous, and has been a part of many different trips. He’s been to Hungary, Canada, Austria, Germany, and most recently, France, during the Music Trip this past year. He says his favorite trip was when he went to Vancouver, where he says, “The mountains are the best I’ve ever seen up there; it’s very open and clean, and I really enjoyed hiking with my buddy and his family.”
Not only is Stephen musically talented, he also performs at a high level academically, and has taken many AP classes such as AP Physics, AP Music Theory, and AP Calc AB, where he’s gotten a five on all three. He is currently enrolled in AP Calc BC, AP Psychology, and AP Physics C Mechanics, as well as AP Physics 2 and AP Physics C E&M outside of school. His favorite class is Physics because “it is so applicable to the real world.”
After High School, Stephen will be attending Penn State Main Campus majoring in Aerospace Engineering. He says, “I’ve always been interested in engineering since I was young, I enjoy the process of optimizing a system and building a system of things to do its intended purpose the best that it can.”
Some advice that Stephen has for underclassmen is, “Networking and talking to different people is so important, because it opens many opportunities that would otherwise be closed. For instance, with my violin playing, I have gotten so many gigs/jobs through others I could not have done without.”
As Stephen heads to Penn State University to study aerospace engineering, it’s clear he’s not just following a path, he’s building one. Whether it’s mastering a violin piece, leading behind the scenes on stage crew, or tackling some of the toughest AP courses BASH offers, Stephen has shown what it looks like to push for excellence without losing curiosity. If his time here is any indication, this is just the opening movement, and the rest is going to be worth watching.
