After the Bell with CCHS Staffulty Member Carli Christenson

Have you ever wondered what teachers and school staff do when they are not at school?  We decided to find out!  

This is the 9th in a series of stories about some of Central Catholic’s staffulty and what they like to do after the bell rings at the end of the day.  Some have surprising hobbies, others have creative talents.  With this series, we hope to shine a spotlight on the special people who work with our students every day!

Stirring Up Treble

Carli Christenson began working as the graphic designer at Central Catholic at the beginning of this school year.  She is also the yearbook teacher, graphic design teacher, and Anime Club moderator.  She graduated from Bowling Green State University in the fall of 2022 with a Bachelor of Science degree in technology.  She majored in visual communication technology (VCT) with specializations in photography, videography, and graphic design for print. 

Outside of work, Carli has been playing violin since she was in the 6th grade, and she has been performing in bands ever since.  “I was first introduced to the violin through an instrument trial night at my school,” she explained.  “I fell in love while testing it and started playing nearly 13 years ago.  I think the thing that made me fall in love with the violin the most was how I could express myself through playing it.  There's always something to learn with the violin, and I adore getting to play different pieces while having fun doing something I love.”

Carli played in Maumee’s school orchestra from 6th grade until her senior year in high school.  She was part of the OMEA District 1 Honors Orchestra in both 2014 and 2015.  She then played on her own for a bit until she joined a student ensemble at BGSU in 2022.  The ensemble is called the Game and Anime Music Ensemble, or GAME for short.

“GAME has been around since 2007 as a student organization at BGSU,” Carli said.  “I heard about it from friends but wasn’t able to join it until my final semester of college.  Lucky for me, there were also several members who were recent graduates of the college, or not even students at all!  The ensemble is composed of many different instruments; brass, woodwind, strings, rock, and percussion.  We also have some vocalists as well, and it’s a wide variety of players who are music majors or those who just want to have fun.  We play music from popular video games and anime shows each year.”

Each year, GAME performs at BGSU’s ArtsX in December.  They’ve also played a couple times around campus at the BGSU Arts Village or the College of Musical Arts.  Their biggest concert is at Animarathon, an anime convention that is hosted in the Bowen Thompson Student Union on campus.

Joining this ensemble has allowed Carli to explore her love for singing a bit more and has nudged her to pick up her guitar again in her free time.  She even got to play a silly song from a Nintendo game on Boomwhackers with her friends.  “For those that don't know, Boomwhackers are plastic tubes that play a specific note when you hit them against your hand, so you can combine them with other Boomwhackers to create music,” she explained. “It's rather fun!”

While classical pieces are beautiful to play on the violin, Carli says that she loves teaching herself music from popular media like musicals, movies, and popular songs in general.  “While I was in high school, we would often play covers of classic rock music, like 'Sweet Child O’ Mine' by Guns N' Roses and 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen,” she said.  “When I learned there was an ensemble that played more 'nerdy' music like the fun stuff I did in high school, I had to give it a try!”

Carli practices violin at least one to two times a week, depending on her schedule with work and life.  It's a bit tricky to balance, so she tries to practice whenever she can, and she has found setting aside time on the weekends is her best way to get practice in.

Carli has also been able to bring together her enjoyment of the violin with another one of her interests - anime.  “I think I originally got into anime when I was in middle school,” she said.  “I had always been a fan of Pokemon, a popular anime at the time, and I saw a friend drawing something from it.  We ended up bonding over other shows she introduced me to, and I got hooked on the art style and stories being told.  I’ve always loved nerdy things like anime and video games.  The very first year I was in the band at BGSU, we played a medley of video game music that spanned from the 1980s to the 2020s, and it was so fun!  Playing tunes I love from the shows and media I like is a nice way to unwind from the stressors of life.”

Previous Editions of “After the Bell”
Kim Bremer (August)
Ernie Lamb (September)
Logan Lorenzen (October)
Kylee Stewart (November)
Tyler Kleeberger (December)
Abigail Kruse (January)
Whitney McHaffie (February)
Michael Meachum (March)