Not many people can play one instrument, let alone 13. Nene Van Winkle has been playing instruments since third grade, where she first learned to play the recorder.
“I’m an avid recorder player,” Nene said.
After playing recorder in third grade, she started playing viola in fourth grade for elementary school strings. She learned clarinet and bass clarinet in middle school band, and alto saxophone in Jazz Band.
When she came to WHS, she joined the Golden Apple Band and Jazz Band, where she started playing tenor saxophone.
In the late summer of freshman year, she first met band teacher Jim Kovach at band camp.
“The first time I met her, she bowed to me,” Kovach said.
“He kinda scared me at first, so I kinda did this weird [half bows head] and it was during band camp. I was tired, so I wasn’t really thinking,” Nene said.
After freshman year, she went on to learn soprano and baritone sax. She also learned contrabass clarinet, flute, piano, percussion, and guitar.
Kovach sees Nene as a great leader who is intelligent and enthusiastic. He has been one of her favorite teachers and mentors for all four years of high school.
“He’s pushed me to be the best I can be, even though I thought my best was a lot lower,” Nene said. “He would always help me achieve a higher expectation, to raise my bar a little higher.”
Kovach disclosed that when Nene skips her other classes, she goes to Kovach’s classroom, where she is always welcome. That’s why he is one of Nene’s favorite teachers.
Another person Nene has made a great impression on is Neal Nayak, who met Nene in AP Bio this year.
“I feel like we both are good at talking with each other and can have fun in serious situations,” Nayak said.
Nayak sees Nene as an honest person who treats everyone kindly.
“She’s really nice and should be seen as one of the hardest-working seniors,” he said.
Nene participated in Mock Trial for three years (freshman, junior and senior years). She started off being a lawyer and a witness for each of her first two years. In her senior year, she took on a double attorney role where she helped lead her team to a place 4th and 13th place at state. A friend, Gabe Pleas, had recently joined Mock Trial with Nene.
“At the mock trial state, she totally ran the courtroom as a lawyer,” Pleas said. “At the end of our last trial, the judge even went up to her and suggested that she should be a lawyer, though it was unbeknownst to [the judge] that she had just gotten into one of the best undergrad law programs in the country.”
The courtroom and the band aren’t the only places Nene shines. Her mother is from Japan, and Nene grew up in Japan for part of her childhood, where she learned to be fluent in Japanese. Throughout high school Nene has held onto her roots, earning the highest level of Japanese literacy award offered in the world.
“It was a struggle, especially maintaining a different language in a place where it’s not really native at all,” Nene said.
Nene is also a member of the Japanese Association of Washington Educators, where she teaches kids about Japanese culture. Embracing her heritage has been a challenge because of the racism she has encountered in Wenatchee.
“There are a lot of racial aspects that I have overcome through the years,” Nene said. “Not everybody was the kindest about me being Japanese, but [I learned] that Japanese has its own uniqueness and its own value in my life.”
All of these accomplishments resulted in Nene’s admittance to Columbia University, which she will attend next year. She plans to double major in political science and economics.
Despite the large distance between these majors and her interest in music, she also does not plan to completely abandon the performing arts. She plans to take music classes with the Manhattan School of Music through Columbia.
The past four years have been a journey equally fraught with fun and grueling work. However, she didn’t lose steam during her senior year. She joined ASB this year as the diversity coordinator, and she was awarded WHS Prom Queen 2025.
Reflecting on her academic career, she recognized the value of pacing herself.
“Space out your AP tests because taking eight AP tests your senior year isn’t it,” Nene said.
Despite the overwhelming stress she has sometimes felt, she advised other students to push themselves as she did. As for her goals for the future, Nene hopes that she can continue to make people happy and smile. She plans to always be working to a new goal so that she can achieve a lot, as long as it makes her happy.
Kovach wished to tell Nene, “Have a good life. Go to class.”
