A three-sport athlete at Methuen High School in Massachusetts is making every second of his high school journey count and has his sights set on a challenging career once he graduates.
Senior Isaac Gillespie went from a beginner in the pool to winning a state championship in a relay race and earning the Most Improved award along the way.
“My first time was actually like 57 seconds, which is a garbage time for a 50-yard freestyle,” said Gillespie. “But then I got out with a best time of 26.63 seconds.”
Three-sport athlete
Gillespie is also on the high school’s indoor track team, where he throws shot put and runs the 55-meter dash. And he’s on tennis team, where he started as a beginner and is now the team’s captain his senior year and plays doubles. He won the Most Improved award for tennis as well.
“I had legit no tennis experience,” said Gillespie. “I just got a racket and sort of learned to play on the spot.”
Gillespie has also grown as a person over his four years at Methuen High School.
“He’s got the full package. In other words, he can lead, he’s got the ability to orchestrate himself, manage himself but he can manage others, which is a very difficult thing to do,” said Dani Balani, the head tennis coach at Methuen High School.
“He’s very competitive, always comes to practice early,” said Gillespie’s tennis partner, James Touma. When asked what he’s like as a person, Touma said, “Very, very kind. Very generous. I would say he’s the best friend I’ve been with.”
When he’s not playing sports, Gillespie dabbles in mask-masking, making mask replicas from places like the video game “Halo.”
“It’s just something extra I can do to, like, utilize my full creativity, just to make something cool.” said Gillespie.
Passion for air travel
But it’s Gillespie’s other passion when he’s not playing sports that makes him soar above others. Gillespie said he fell in love with air travel from a very young age.
“I was coming home from preschool and I told my mom, ‘Hey Mom, let’s go to the airport, I want to check out the planes,’” said Gillespie. “At least from that point, I knew it was like, this is it, I want to be an airline pilot.”
“I knew, when he was probably 3 or 4, and at that time, he was fascinated by trains and airplanes,” said Gillespie’s mother, Lisa Miller Gillespie. “So he either wanted to be an engineer and create his own trains or he wanted to be a pilot.”
“I remember when he was doing his first solo flight, I think the instructor was probably as nervous as we were,” said Gillespie’s father, Kevin Gillespie.
So far, Gillespie is 60 hours and four solo flights in on his journey to becoming a licensed pilot. And he wants to turn his love for the air into a career.
“You take off and you can maneuver any sort of way, you can see everything,” said Gillespie. “Lakes and oceans, rivers especially, are the best part. Because it’s, like, the view is amazing. And that freedom.”
Gillespie said he’s become who he is because of his parents. He hopes to get his pilot license after he graduates and fly for either Delta or United Airlines.
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