Success at school runs in the family

If Sandra Simon has a Grandma’s Brag Book, chances are it is nearly full. After all, two of her grandkids alone can list their collective accomplishments as high school soccer players, a member of the wrestling team, tuba player, saxophone player, a member of two select choirs, a fiddler and an advanced placement student.

Mikel and Marisa Buffaloe both attend Post Falls High School. Mikel, who is 17 and entering his senior year, and his sister Marisa, 16, are both accomplished athletes and musicians.

Mikel has played soccer since he was 8 and was voted by his peers to be one of the captains of the Post Falls High School varsity soccer team for the upcoming year. A member of the varsity team since he was a sophomore, Mikel says he sees himself as a leader on the soccer field.

“I have helped a lot of the younger kids,” he said.

In addition to soccer, Mikel also competes on the wrestling team.

“(Soccer and wrestling) are both equally challenging,” said Mikel. “I really like them both.”

He says that playing soccer actually helps his fitness when it comes to wrestling.

“My legs don’t get as fatigued as other wrestlers,” said Mikel who was voted most improved on both the wrestling and soccer teams last year.

Last year his wrestling team sent 13 people to state competition. In only his second year competing in the sport, Mikel was one of those who earned a spot.

When not competing in soccer or wrestling, Mikel is busy keeping up with the instruments he plays for the jazz band as well as the concert band. He has played the saxophone since sixth grade and in his freshman year, at the urging of his band instructor, also took up the tuba.

“I play the saxophone for the jazz band and the tuba for the concert band,” said Mikel.

As if all this is not enough, Mikel also takes advanced placement courses in school. In the upcoming year he will take AP calculus, honors physics and honors English. He is able to maintain a 3.85 grade point average, but that is not without a lot of hard work and dedication.

“During wrestling season, I am most pressed for time,” said Mikel. “I’m usually up late doing homework.”

He lists math among his favorite subjects and is looking forward to studying engineering when he goes off to college next year, possibly to the University of Idaho.

“I know I want to do something to do with math,” said Mikel.

Mikel, who also has a 12-year-old brother and a 7-year-old sister, says being the oldest in the family has its advantages.

“I get to baby-sit and make them do my chores sometimes,” he said.

While Mikel may be able to get the younger two siblings to do his chores, it is doubtful that Marisa would do them, if because of no other reason, a lack of time. The next in line in the Buffaloe family, Marisa will enter her junior year this September at Post Falls High School.

Also an accomplished musician, Marisa has played the fiddle for 10 years.

“Marisa was introduced to the world of music and fiddle playing while a student of Terry Ludiker’s first grade class 10 years ago,” said Grandma Simon.

“My teacher is a very accomplished musician,” said Marisa, who today continues to take private lessons from Ludiker.

But because Post Falls High does not have an orchestra, Marisa is left on her own to find venues where she can participate in fiddling.

In June she competed in the junior division at the Annual Post Falls Fiddle Fest. During the competition, which is judged and scored, each contestant is required to perform three pieces for each round.

“The first is a hoedown, the second is a waltz and the third is your choice,” said Marisa.

But performing in front of people has never been a problem for her.

“Actually, I don’t really get nervous,” said Marisa.

Her favorite types of music to play are bluegrass and Celtic music. And, she says, she really enjoys the reaction she gets from people when she tells them she is a fiddler.

“That’s because not a lot of people play it,” said Marisa. “It’s an individuality thing.”

When not fiddling, Marisa, like her brother, is active in soccer. She plays mid-field on the Junior Varsity team and says she enjoys the sport she has played for about seven years. Although she probably won’t continue with soccer when she enters college, she said, she will continue with her singing.

A member of two select choirs, Marisa says she loves to sing and looks forward to traveling to Seattle this school year to sing in Seattle’s Heritage Festival.

“I’ll sing anything,” said Marisa. “But I really like barbershop and modern stuff.”

While the two siblings are close in age, Marisa said they don’t hang out in the same group.

“We don’t fight,” said Marisa. “But we don’t hang out together, either.”