Profile: Jessica Conway

Senior and marching band drum major Jessica Conway is proficient in topics ranging from the B flat musical scale, hot sauce, and circus ventures with aerial hoops.

Conway has led the Oak Park Marching Band for the past two years. She also spends most of her free time peer tutoring, walking dogs, studying and taking trapeze classes at The Aerial Classroom in the valley.

“The weirdest thing I’ve done with trapeze is hanging by my feet probably, or trying really hot hot sauce. [Hot sauce spice units] are called scovilles by the way,” Conway said.

Scoville is a measurement of chili pepper or spicy food pungency — pungency meaning strongly affecting one’s sense of smell or taste. Scoville heat units can range from 0 units in a bell pepper, to 2,480,000 units in a Dragon’s Breath pepper, which Conway said she swears to never try.

Over the years Conway has taken up the tenor saxophone for jazz band, the E flat clarinet for concert band and the synthesizer for winter drumline. However, she said her favorite instrument is an original staple in her musical career: the B flat clarinet.

“I play clarinet; that’s what I started on,” Conway said.

Conway expresses a sympathy for OPHS students who have to balance numerous activities on their schedule. When dealing with this level of stress, she said she took to caffeine, until she exhausted its usage after a duration of time.

“I got to the point where caffeine wasn’t working, it would just bring me to normal. It was not sustainable. I had to kick it this summer in coffee rehab,” Conway said.

Q: Are you the mom or dad of band?

A: I’d have to go with mom. Peter’s already claimed band dad as my co-drum major. He has a shirt and everything. I tell people to put sunscreen on and stuff, and I feel like that’s mom-ish.

Q: What was a key moment for marching band?

A: Nothing beats [Battle of the Bands] last year when we got our third place trophy, and we were the most excited band to ever get a third place trophy because that was the first time we brought home a trophy for our school and it was the first field competition we went to.

Q: Why did you become a trapeze artist?

A: I did flying trapeze while on vacation when I was really young, and then when I came back home, I wanted to do something like that that was more accessible. I found an aerial studio and started with hoop, silks, and static trapeze when I was eleven. It really made me more confident and brought me out of my shell. Also, since I went to a studio with mostly adults, it helped me mature more.

Q: What do you have to say about your social media fan accounts?

A: I think I follow the Jessica Fan Club on Instagram that’s run by Justin Parsik, and then Peter Ye runs a Remind class that’s “The Jessica Fan Club.” I’m not in that one, but I hear that one is way more active.

Q: Why did you try out for drum major?

A: It was middle school band night sophomore year and there were, I think, four clarinets total in marching band, and we had over 30 total. We had a ton of middle schoolers; they outnumbered us. I remember just standing up and being the only section leader there, teaching all the middle schoolers all the stuff we need to know for marching band, and I realized I wanted to keep doing that.