It started with sports. Before he was pitching for the varsity team as a sophomore, before he was writing for WLHSnow, before he had made it to second grade, Caleb Franzen, sophomore, was playing sports. 5 years old, holding a bat that was almost as tall as he was, Caleb Franzen was stretching to make contact with a baseball. For his entire life, Franzen has been fascinated by sports, playing and “Watching every type of sport.”

It’s a passion that hasn’t dulled with age. Amidst a team populated mostly by juniors and seniors, Franzen doesn’t look a bit out of place. But this isn’t the story of a one sport student. Franzen has been competing in every sport he could find, kicking, running and throwing his way through a mirade of different competitions. It’s that openness to different opportunities that inspired Caleb to write for the school newspaper. A desire to try new things.

“Every article,” Franzen explains, “I try a different writing style.” It’s just like pitching. If you only throw fastballs, the batter is going to figure out how to hit against you very quickly. That’s why you must learn how to throw in a curveball one pitch, and a change up the next.

And as a pitcher himself, Franzen knows that life can throw it’s share of unexpected pitches. Though he dreams of “taking baseball as far as [he] can”, Franzen knows that you can never predict how the future will turn out. That’s why this time in his life is key. From a young age, Franzen has enjoyed free writing. When a spot opened up in his schedule, he never had any doubt as to how he would use it. “High school” says Franzen “is a time to experiment.” Caleb has sized up the batter and lined up his pitch. And as anyone who’s seen him play will attest, Caleb’s going to rifle in a strike.