Four seniors share their current goals and aspirations. In May, we will revisit the same students to see if those have changed. This is the story of Holyn Trautwein.

Photo by Gavin Chen, Staff Writer

Cameron Chappell, Staff Writer

Holyn Trautwein has always been known as a key teammate to her lacrosse team, Northview High School, and the Johns Creek community. Always known as personable and sociable, Trautwein built her personality by playing multiple sports before entering high school, and her athleticism continued through all four years of high school as well. Since starting lacrosse in first grade, she began to develop her love for the sport day by day. She credits her extroversion and ability to connect with people she doesn’t know to playing lacrosse.

“She’s very charismatic and loves to make people laugh,” her friend, Izzy Gonzalez, said. “She is caring and willing to have a conversation with anyone.”

However, Trautwein stands out from the average high school athlete. The summer of junior year, during what some would consider the most crucial time for sports and recruiting, Trautwein decided to take a break from playing lacrosse. She felt stressed balancing her workload during the peak of the pandemic and its subsequent effects, and considered not playing at all  in college. Although she missed playing lacrosse and the feelings that came into it, she began to focus on other things. This helped her ease her way back into the sport she had always loved and gradually took her time to pace herself back into game mode through playing and coaching.

“After school, I work out, do some sort of running or lifting, and then every couple of days, I will play lacrosse and work on my skills,” Trautwein said. “I’m also coaching the junior Titans for lacrosse, and that’s really fun.”

The other things she has taken to involve numerous community activities that make the most of her outgoing personality. She is the club president for Will to Live Club. She is a 2021 All-American and was announced to Georgia’s 2021 First Team All-State by U.S. Lacrosse. She was also awarded Student of the Moment, a recognition of a standout student in the school’s 3DE Junior Achievement program, by Wesley Tanner, one of Northview’s 3DE teachers. 

“She was always creative with her projects, and I still keep them as reference to show to other students. She was also more than willing to join the soccer team for a single game when the team fell short a member; she is a natural athlete,” Tanner said.

However, Trautwein’s work sometimes takes a more personal note. Her parents’ foundation, Will to Live, dedicated to her late brother Will Trautwein, set a mission to raise awareness in teen suicide, increase education of mental illnesses, and delivering hope to those in the community. Suicide prevention has been a staple point in the Johns Creek community, bringing people of all backgrounds together. She has become an advocate for mental health and makes it a point in her everyday life to check up on others and let them know they are being thought of.

“There are many people I don't even know supporting the foundation, and whether they know it or not, that supports me. In this community, I feel like I have good connections with a lot of people. There's never a moment where I don't feel [a connection] from my friends, classmates, or teachers,” Trautwein said.

Despite struggle, Trautwein has found strength in not only lacrosse but also in hobbies such as music. She is also a self-taught guitar and piano player and believes that music is just as prominent a part of her life as lacrosse. Her family is musically inclined, with both of her older brothers playing instruments, one of them creating and producing his own label in their house. The siblings are known to play at their annual Willstock Music Festival.  

After the school year ends, Trautwein plans to move to Winter Park, Fla., as she has officially committed as a student-athlete to Rollins College for its women’s lacrosse team. Finding a healthy medium between balancing school, a personal life, and a demanding sport is always a top priority for her. This thought process helped her pick which school she felt she could personally commit to.

“After visiting another school and reflecting on myself, I just decided I like how Rollins way of life focuses so much more on school and your actual well-being rather than just winning lacrosse games,” Trautwein said.

Trautwein is not quite set on what she wants to major in and potentially pursue as a career, but she has shown time and time again that whatever she chooses to do, she will succeed diligently. Trautwein continues to leave a lasting impact on everyone she meets on her journey to becoming the best version of herself.