It takes only a quick scan of Audrey Appuhn’s resume to comprehend her passion for the sport of swimming.
 
A proficient swimmer before the age of 5, she joined the Topeka Swim Association shortly thereafter and in her decade with the club enjoyed more than her share of success. It eventually became the only sport in which she competed and her success escalated when she hit Washburn Rural high School where she claimed Centennial League titles and state medals each of her first three seasons with the Junior Blues.
 
When Appuhn wasn’t in the pool competing, she’s been on the pool deck giving back to the sport. She’s served as a lifeguard at Capitol Federal Natatorium at Hummer Sports Park, volunteered as a timer or worker at swim meets and also spent her past five summers conducting both private and group swim lessons.
 
“Obviously, swimming has been a big part of my life,” Appuhn said. “I mainly got into it because, like any little girls, I wanted to be just like my mom (Erin), who swam for Rural. I was so excited and she was like, ‘I really wasn’t that good, you don’t have to be like me.’ But I was so excited and got so into it from there and it’s been a big part of who I am.”
 
Given that dedication to the sport, it seems a bit unfathomable that with her senior swim season less than a month away there was actually some debate in Appuhn’s mind whether she was going to compete for the Junior Blues this spring. She will, but it was a decision that received serious contemplation.
 
To comprehend Appuhn’s dilemma, another dive into Appuhn’s resume reveals a passion that has even deeper roots and a stronger connection for the Washburn Rural senior. 
 
As much as swimming has consumed Appuhn’s life, music – in particular vocal music – has become her life. From spending the bulk of her school day in Rural choir instructor Ben Holcomb’s room to spending most of her free time devoted to some aspect of vocal music, Appuhn – this week’s CapFed® True Blue® Student of the Week – hardly spends a waking moment where music isn’t flowing in or out of her body.
 
“I love swimming and I’ve been very successful at swimming,” Appuhn said. “But I just really emotionally latched onto music. The comfort and support that I get when I’m performing or learning or just listening to music, it’s like the only thing that can calm me down and really grounds me. I have really bad anxiety and music is something, I can always rely on it. I can sit at the piano, go sing a song or listen to Celine Dion in my car.
 
“It not only is something that is my spark, but it’s something that I connect to that helps me and I can help other people with it. It really just fit like a glove into my life. Swimming was and is very important to me and gives me things music can’t and music gives me things swimming can’t.”
 

 
About the same time Appuhn was beginning her first strokes in the pool, she was also taking her first strokes on a piano, her parents finally relenting after her continued begging to take it up. But even before she sat down at the piano, music was already speaking to her.
 
“My mom told me that even when I was 1 year old, the only thing she could do to get me to stop crying so she could take a shower was turn on Little Einsteins,” Appuhn said. “she said I just sat there and loved every single moment of it.”
 
Erin also had a musical background, having played both the piano and cello all the way through college. So naturally, Audrey migrated toward following in those footsteps as well.
 
She joined orchestra in middle school but it wasn’t until she joined the middle school choir in eighth grade that Appuhn said her “life musically changed.”
 
“I had done some small musicals, theater camps, so I had been exposed to singing,” she said. “But I never really used my own voice and been so in touch with how I like musically doing things other than just producing the note itself.
 
“My mom heard me sing in shows and I’d sing around the house and she said, “I just see the passion you have for singing and I think you should do this.’ So she really encouraged me to jump into that. It was just a gut feeling and I’m very, very glad I did this because it opened up a whole new world to it.”
 
It was a world that Appuhn thought she knew something about. But as she began taking individual vocal lessons, particularly with Dr. Mackenzie Phillips at MAC Studios starting weekly in 2022. Taking one-hour lessons three times a week, Appuhn began to dive into the intricate nuances of voice training, learning different styles, tones and pitches.
 
By the time she started high school, Appuhn was well on her way to becoming a complete and well-rounded singer. So much so that she made an immediate impression on Holcomb.
 
“Even from when Audrey was new to the program as a freshman, she displayed an incredible amount of talent,” Holcomb said. “I never want to say more so than any other student, but it was to a pretty extraordinary level. She has been easily a collegiate-level vocalist for several years now, not only for the quality and range and tone of her voice, but also she is incredibly detail-oriented and intentional with her music making. It takes a lot of intelligence and passion to do some of those things.”
 

 
Appuhn’s musical talents have been on full display throughout her high school career. She’s been a member of This Generation, Rural’s select 24-member ensemble, since her sophomore year and also has sung chorale since her sophomore year as well, occupying a Soprano I position on Rural’s highest level audition groups. In all, she’s in four different ensembles as well as serving as a section leader in Rural’s concert choir.
 
This Generation will perform at the Kansas Music Educators Association’s state group performance showcase this weekend in Wichita. The past two seasons she’s been chosen to the KMEA All-State choir after being an alternate her freshman year. The past two years, she’s also audtioned for and has been chosen for a solo piece, something she will shoot for again this year.
 
“If I could get a three-peat, that would be crazy,” she said. “It adds a lot of extra stress for the weekend, but it’s also really, really fun.”
 
Appuhn has had I ratings with solo pieces at state competition each of her first three years, mostly singing classical pieces which is her favorite genre of music. Those can be extremely challenging, but it’s a challenge she’s always up for.
 
“You learn your individual voice, you learn style stuff, strengths and weaknesses,” she said. “My junior year, I sang an aria from Handel’s Opera called Sampson, “Let the Bright Seraphim” It’s in English and everyone is like, ‘Foreign songs are the hardest.’ Well that song is the hardest I’ve ever sang. There are so many milesmas, which is a run of multiple different notes on the same syllable. It just really, really took me a long time to learn that. But through that piece, among many other classical, foreign language, etc., I’ve really harnessed my own voice and I don’t just think of it as I’m going to sing an A or a B. I think of it as I’m going to sing and A at this dynamic in this style in this register of my voice. It’s just so much thinking.
 
“So I’ve gone from in practice I’m going to run through this song a couple times to I’m learning this measure today. It’s really narrowed my focus and broken things down. It’s like studying for a test. Say I know the generalities of the constitution, but now I’m learning the specific bills or this specific line – I’m taking government right now and we had a test yesterday so it’s fresh in my mind. But that’s a comparison I can make.”
 
There’s also a strong correlation in Appuhn’s life between her swimming and her music. She says depending on what stroke she might be swimming, a certain melody or tune often accompany her as she drives through the water during a race.
 
“With swimming there’s a musical component to it,” Appuhn said. “There’s a rhythm, a tempo, how aggressively and I hitting the water is like how aggressively am I hitting a note. I can create this music in my mind of my stroke. If I’m swimming freestyle, it’s like, ‘Oh, right now this feels like the Monster Mash.’ I did the mile one time and I sang the Monster Mash in my head the entire time. Was very sick of that song by the time I was done, but I connected to that. Breaststroke, I’ve got Under Pressure in my brain. I can feel that bass drum, boom, boom in my head. It’s so crazy.
 
“And then with singing and I’m getting to that bigger moment, my heart is racing and I’m so tired I can feel it in my muscles. I can feel like I’m trying to get that emotion out and it’s like that final push in a race. So the emotional aspect of swimming is my technique but also my grit and my physical endurance I put into it. With singing, it’s all the technique things like a race, but I’m adding what does this song mean to mean, what does this race mean to me. I’m trying to get that cut, I’m trying to show my audience this, I’m trying to get that last push to the wall, ‘Who’s going to out-touch who?’ I’m trying to be like, ‘Oh what’s going to happen next in this song?’ That has really given me a structure to my singing.”
 
On a whim this year, Appuhn expanded her musical interests back to band. She joined Rural’s marching band and played the synth board at school performances. When it came time for parade marching, she played the cymbals.
 
She also became a vocalist for Rural’s jazz band at Holcomb’s encouragement.
 
“I thought, this would be such a good experience, and oh my goodness, I was not ready for jazz,” she said. “I thought it would be so free and easy and it was so hard. I have this classical background and it’s so hard to just let loose and not be so perfect and not be so precise with everything, but at the same time so precise you’re doing the chord changes correctly and you’re adding in all the scats. It’s very, very challenging in a way I didn’t expect. I have to be able to improvise and everyone else is improvising and you have to be able to mesh all of that into a beautiful piece.”
 
Letting go and being free is something that Kaylee Barber, a German teacher at Rural who also has served as Appuhn’s advisory instructor for all four years, might not have expected from Appuhn as a freshman. In fact, Barber recalls a story from Appuhn’s freshman year that would have made such freeness seem a little improbable.
 
“She had a 95% in her Spanish class and she just thought that was not good enough. She wanted to get it up to a 98%,” Barber said. “I asked Audrey, ‘Why?’ And she said, ‘Because I know I can do better, that’s why.’ I told her, ‘Audrey, you’re the only student I’ll have that’s not OK with a 95%.’ But that was just her. She wasn’t mad at anyone but she was just she knew she could do better and wanted to do better.
 
“She was already very mature for her age at that time. She’s very determined, Type-A. She was very excited about learning and was very hard-working and also very set on getting As in everything, she had a plan for everything.”
 
But over the years, Barber said she’s seen a change in Appuhn. 
 
“She’s had exponential growth here,” Barber said. “Her determination has stayed the same, which is good. But she’s learned to give herself grace. In the beginning she was very hard on herself. If things weren’t perfect then she felt she was failing. She’s blossomed into being much more confident in a healthy way. She’s always been confident, but now she’s OK in understanding that the path isn’t always a direct line and to go along the curves and learn from the curves. In the beginning it was very much, ‘This is my plan and if it doesn’t go this way, I don’t know what I’m going to do.’ But over the years she’s developed, ‘If it didn’t go well, what can I learn from that and it’s OK. It turned out OK.’ So she’s definitely matured in the sense that she’s OK with not having a clear path.”
 
Appuhn’s career path has also changed from where she thought she might be headed when she first pictured it. 
 
“Up until this year, I really wanted to be a doctor or a physical therapist or something in the medical field,” Appuhn said. “I started school this year, and I was like, “I have to do music because it’s such a staple in my life.’ That’s what led me to want to go into vocal performance because I have such a passion for music and the way it’s shaped who I am as a person and the way I see that it affects people. When I’m performing or other people are performing, the emotional release music brings is just something that I have to do with my life.”
 
She’s already gotten a bit of a head start on that career. Appuhn has served in an apprentice role for Phillips at her MAC Studio, working with youth in the afternoons. In addition, she also has started giving piano and voice lessons.
 
Those are part of what she calls her “Music Day,” which is every Sunday. She starts the day with her own voice lessons with Phillips before volunteering at Aldersgate Village nursing home where she sings to the residents for roughly 30 minutes. Then it’s off to give her lessons.
 
And sometimes it’s hard to say if she gets more joy out of performing or teaching.
 
“I love being on stage,” she said. “I don’t love being the center of attention, but just getting on stage and showing that emotion and that performance to people and giving them that experience makes me so happy.
 
“(With teaching) I kind of see myself in those kids. I once was in my first vocal lesson and figuring out how to press one finger down at a time on the piano. It’s really cool seeing my past and seeing my future that some day I’m going to be older and see how much I’ve enjoyed music and how it made me feel. Being able to see youth performing and remember that’s what I used to do and that was something I loved to do. It’s really full circle.”
 
Holcomb sees that kind of dedication to helping others on a daily basis in his room. In addition to being a section leader and choir president, Appuhn routinely leads warm-ups for the different ensembles and choirs.
 
“She’s such a leader in both said way and unsaid ways, and by that I mean she’s very vocal about her high expectations for her peers,” Holcomb said. “And only in a positive way, but also with reminders for details that show she is on top of it. She’s going to be on top of her stuff and that leads to the unsaid aspects where if a high school singer can be at this level, there’s no reason I can’t be. There’s no reason our program can’t be one of the best because we have this caliber of singer. I think the comparison game is a dangerous one, especially when you’re singing and it’s your own voice and you take things personally. But I really do think at the end of the day, especially vocalists similar to her vocal type, sopranos, learn a lot by listening and matching what she does. They are able to listen and learn, especially because she takes leadership in a lot of readings.
 
“I’d be ready to sign off on a contract for her to be my assistant choir director tomorrow. She’s very capable of teaching and running a class, probably more so than other teachers who have been through school before. She is really on an interesting level and I’m not sure I’ll ever have another student like Audrey.”
 
Barber said that Appuhn’s influence goes well beyond the music room at Rural.
 
“She’s just a joy to be around and has an infectious positivity to her,” Barber said. “I think other kids see that. Her Type-A personality is for her in her life, but never came across that way to other people as judgmental. She’s always been willing to help. From Day 1 in my advisory class, if other kids had questions about what do they do with this essay or didn’t understand a math question, she was the first one over there willing to help. She’s never condescending to anyone even though she excels academically among her peers. Even though she is Type A, I don’t think her peers noticed that. They just always knew, ‘Oh Audrey knows what’s going on.’ But not that she was imposing her Type A-ness on them.
 
“I think that is exactly who Audrey is. She doesn’t like seeing other people struggle. I think she likes mentoring other people and gets a lot of joy from that.”
 

 
Indeed, Appuhn said trying to develop connections with anyone and everyone is something that speaks to her. A member of Rural’s National Honor Society, she’s embraced the service aspect of the organization and applies that to her daily life as well.
 
“In the hallway, just smile at people,” she said. “Give them a fist bump if they’re wanting a fist bump. Maybe someone needs a hug that day, maybe they need a couple grapes out of your lunchbox. That fist bump is not going to change my life, but maybe it changes theirs. Or maybe they really needed those grapes and that cheered them up. Or maybe that smile is the first one they got that day. Through all of these activities, it’s shaped me as a person. Not just what am I interested in and what am I good at, but how can I make that something help others.
 
“Everyone is on their own little island, but all our islands make up this big world and we’re together. Maybe your island has lava or maybe your island has an avalanche, you never know what’s going on in everyone’s own world. … It’s really important to be in touch with other people and yourself. And if it’s something I can do really well, I can help someone else do really well with it. That’s the most important part of life to me, being kind to others and helping others. I really think without that connection with other people and helping others, what’s the point? Sure we can have these emotional and physical connections, but if they don’t mean anything … we just need to be kind and help one another.”
 
More often than not, Appuhn makes those connections through music, be it with Rural’s ensembles, as an instructor or as a member of the Shawnee Choral Society and now with the Kansas City All-Star Jazz Band, both of which she’s joined in the past year. With so much time devoted to her music and impending career in the field, Appuhn gave up club swimming this past year.
 
The bulk of the high school music competition also coincides with the girls’ swimming season, which led to Appuhn’s dilemma about whether to swim her senior season.
 
But in the end, she couldn’t completely give up the sport that’s given so much to her.
 
“It’s really been a good experience because it’s taught me how to push through challenges in ways that I didn’t recognize challenges could approach,” Appuhn said. “Like when you’re doing a difficult set, it’s working toward something you want to do. I’m doing this because I enjoy it, but sometimes you don’t enjoy every part of the process and it definitely taught me things I can apply outside of the pool. When I’m doing music, a hard repertoire is hard to learn and can be very frustrating and continuing to use that grit and endurance not physically, but mentally has helped me outside of the pool.
 
“It’s definitely taught me to cherish the moments I have with people. In the classroom I always try to make connections with people, even if it’s someone I wouldn’t normally talk to. I’ll be like, ‘How was your day? How are you doing? Or, that shirt looks great on you!’ Just things like that, I realize the importance of that. I recognize the importance of how hard things can be. Swimming really has been the root of how I learned my own character and how I interact with people. Just so many different aspects of my life.
 
“I think everyone in life has their own spark, whether that spark is a sport or they’re very intelligent or very good at debate or maybe really good at making coffee. Everybody has something that makes them special and believing you are awesome and you can do this. Everyone needs that little positive push. You really have to find your niche and stick with it and not regret not doing things because you only have so much time to make the most of your time.”