A trait found in a lot of creative people is the ability to stick to skills or hobbies they’re passionate about. Oftentimes, they have to balance these skills to maximize their goals. Whether they’re composing music, playing board games or spending time on homework, it’s no easy task finding the time to do all of that.

Fortunately, Dex Tomasek (11) embodies many of these different skills while still managing to pull them off and control them effectively. Some would even say it came naturally to them.

Tomasek uses their musical prowess to the fullest extent, playing a range of styles with bass, percussion and vocals. To further their musical reach, Tomasek joined Music Technology at Lincoln North Star High School during freshman year and composed several pieces for bass. After transferring to Southeast, they began to explore songwriting and eventually joined the Songwriting Club.

“[Composing for bass] was pretty fun,” Tomasek said. “I thought it was going to be the same thing for songwriting, but it was still cool.”

When Tomasek isn’t making music, they often find themselves playing games like “Dungeons & Dragons” and “Magic: The Gathering.” The former is one of their favorite tabletop games.

“I play it with my friends a lot. My dad’s run a couple games for me and my friends,” Tomasek said. “It’s just a really good time being able to create characters and go through storylines.”

Tomasek has many “Dungeons & Dragons” characters, but their main character is a dragon-born barbarian. On the lively aspects of roleplay, they say, “It’s always a good time to be able to just goof around and fight things [with my character]. I enjoy escaping and being able to be reckless through something else rather than my own life.”

Besides more passionate interests, Tomasek’s biggest motivator is their dad and a few close friends. “My dad always talks about how I need to do better because I need to be able to fulfill what I want to do in my own life. He doesn’t want me to go through the suffering of not creating and then being sad,” Tomasek said.

That’s a major aspect of their process. Rather than rely on validation from outside groups, they choose to look within and find out who cares most about their interests. Not only do they have a niche of very supportive friends, but an outlet to express themselves on a personal level. That’s what really helps someone like Tomasek practice the skills that they do.