Music and martial arts is the thing for graduate

Nichole Breivik is no ordinary musician. She started out in junior high playing the trumpet, switched to French horn, then took up the violin, with a little trombone on the side. She also likes to play her guitar when she gets a chance.

Music isn’t just her muse, it’s her therapy — well, half of it at least. The other half is Taekwondo. She’s a black belt working on her second degree and has been practicing the martial art for 10 years now.

“I haven’t had to use it yet,” she said with a smile. “It taught me a lot of the morals and values I have today.”

Breivik is one of about 150 Columbia Falls High School seniors who will graduate June 1. She’s an honor student, with a grade point average of more than 3.5, and she’s kept her grades up even through a rough patch in her life.

Last Feb. 1, her mom, Daymien Thommen, came to school bearing bad news — Breivik’s father had died. He was just 38 and had a heart attack.

Her father lived in Lincoln City, Ore., and Breivik would visit him during the summers. He was a taxi cab driver and would let her ride with him, but only until 6 p.m. Then he dropped her off back home. Too much riff-raff on the night shift, he told her.

“I loved him,” she said. “He was so cool.”

Breivik turned to music after his death. She said she loves to play jazz. She just played and played and played. Sometimes it’s best just to play music even if the notes are wrong, she said.

When fellow senior Taylor Peterson died of cancer, that’s what she did as well. Breivik is a member of the Columbians, the high school jazz band, and they just played and played, Breivik said.

She also went to her martial arts classes.

“Sometimes I just need to beat something up,” she said.

Breivik plans on honing her music craft in college. She plans on attending Flathead Valley Community College and then transferring to the University of Montana-Missoula. She says she wants to specialize in music theory.

“I would like to teach theory,” she said. “It’s really cool when you can incorporate it into playing music.”

Graduation ceremonies will take place at the Columbia Falls High School gym on Saturday, June 1, starting at 11 a.m.