He’s a beam of bright light and positivity at Lake Ridge and involved in just about every club at the school. Senior, Chase Berry treats every person like a best friend and has a coveted passion for school spirit and extracurricular activities.

Berry is in drumline, concert band, AP art, Theatre, Step Team, Stuco, Key Club, African Culture Club, Anime Club, he is a Lake Ridge Ambassador, and a Dual Credit Ambassador. The list of activities is almost exhausting to read, it is difficult to imagine how exhausting it would be to actually partake in them. Yet, if anybody knows how, it’s Chase Berry. Berry says that his friends and the positive environment that he is surrounded with are what keeps him coming to school every day with a smile on his face. The surroundings that he is familiar with are comprised of the clubs that he has built a family in. For example, Berry mentions his affiliation with the Distinguished Gentleman’s Step Team, a group that he helped build.

“It’s really a brotherhood. Recently we went to a competition, did our best, and came home with a trophy bigger than me. Last year I was actually one of the original people to make the step team. That same year, we got invited to a national competition,” says Berry.

A part of why Chase Berry is such an empathetic, exciting person is that he lives to serve others. Berry wants to spread his school spirit and make sure that everyone else is having fun before he worries about himself. He gets this opportunity when he’s down on the football field. 

“Drumline is during football season. I play the bass five, which is the biggest drum and the loudest bass. I like hyping people up and making other people have fun. I have my own cadence that I start with and everyone loves it. Concert band is fun because building the show up from the beginning of the year and then seeing how it grows and how far we advance is a good feeling. For concert band I’m in percussion which includes, marimba, snare, bass drum, toms, tambourines, and triangle. So I play all of those,” explains Berry.

Band is exactly where Chase Berry has found one of his biggest long-time families. It’s easy to want to quit band or any activity that is stressful and time consuming. However, for Berry, the brothers and sisters he has found, keep him grounded.

“We’re each other’s closest friends and there’s such a tight knit group of us that it’s more that we’ve created a family for the reason we have stayed in band and is not so much about the instruments. Sometimes Chase pushes himself a little too far but I think he likes making people happy and seeing people happy in his presence. Him being involved in things helps people find who they are through him,” says band member and best friend of Berry, Kyle Berwise.

A charming nature and a happy-go-lucky attitude make Berry easy to become friends with. Not only does he get involved in different groups, but he drops what he is doing to help those who need it. Art teacher, Mary Boyd-Long, has had the pleasure of having Berry in her classes for the past four years. She has seen firsthand how he interacts with his peers.

“Chase is always really helpful. I know officer Do asked him to draw some minions on the glass of the police station in the school. Any time I ask him to do anything he’s always right there to do it. He’s just a great leader. Chase is very friendly and gets along with everyone and he is very sociable. Kids really like him,” says Boyd-Long.

Although Chase Berry works himself to the bone to be as well rounded as he is, he truly does everything because it is what he loves. His kindness and goodwill earned him the title of the 2017-2018 school year Homecoming King. Berry had not even anticipated doing Homecoming court, but ran anyway for the sake of his friend. Still, he remains humble about all of his accomplishments.

It is beneficial for everyone at Lake Ridge that Berry is active in so many clubs, because the students are able to have role model and friend as exuberant and personable as him.