Everyone has at least one thing he or she likes to do. It is same for In-kyung Chae, a freshman whose virtuosity on violin performance has been recognized.

She sets a higher goal whenever she achieves something new. “Whenever I accomplish something new,” Chae noted, “I feel more confident about myself, and I feel more motivated.”

In the beginning of March, she won the first place in a strings scholarship competition. “There were two rounds,” Chae said. “To my surprise, I won the first place.” As a result, she will play as a soloist with the Fairfax Symphony Orchestra in 2004.

Besides this, she has many more accomplishments that made her professional. In 1997, she went to the pre-college division of The Julliard School while her family lived in New York City. Also, she has won a few local competitions in previous years and won the NVMTA Concerto Competition this year. In April, she will be playing with the Landon Symphonette Orchestra in another competition.

The atmosphere in her family helped her be motivated in music since she was little. “Ever since I was little, I remember that the stereo always played classical music at home,” Chae said. She said she was kind of dragged into playing violin along with her sister, Eun-Jin Chae, another violinist, but now she is very glad that she was.

She transferred from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology to McLean to concentrate more on music. “I was planning on finishing my freshman year at TJ,” Chae said, “but the workload got worse and worse.” She didn’t have enough time to practice violin everyday because of the workload she had. She had to make a choice between academics and music. After all, she decided to choose music.

Chae is leaning towards a major in music in college. Although she is not sure what her future career will be, she has a dream to be in a professional orchestra and become a teacher in a music school.

As a member of the Chamber Soloists, the highest level of all the orchestras in McLean High School, she is grateful for its friendliness. “It has a very different feeling from other orchestras I have been in before,” Chae concluded. “There is a cozier and relaxed atmosphere, and everyone really supports each other here.”