“When people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always thought I would be a doctor who painted pictures for my patients and gave them my mixtape.”

Sophomore Kat Elizabeth Hetrick said she always wanted to combine her love of science, art and music, but instead, she is currently focusing on music as an Entertainment Industry major.

Hetrick said she has recorded indie-pop music professionally. Her songs on YouTube and Spotify have gained thousands of views combined, and she released her new song, “Tangled Strings,” in late October.

“It was really fun creating the music video for ‘Tangled Strings,’” she said. “It was my first time making one, and it was an interesting process. I did laugh though when one of the comments said that the cat was the star of the video.”

Hetrick said she began pursuing music as a career after listening to Ed Sheeran.

“I noticed he used a loop pedal to create his music, and I thought, ‘I can do that,’” she said. “That finally gave me a purpose and a reason to wake up in the morning. I realized that this is what I wanted to do.”

Hetrick is enthusiastic about music, said Robert Garfrerick, department chair of the entertainment industry.

“She’s very engaged and interested in what she’s doing,” he said.

Hetrick said while she loves her major, she sometimes believes she does not have the personality for it.

“For someone who wants to be involved in the Entertainment industry, I am very much an introvert,” she said. “I very much enjoy being in my solitude with Netflix.”

Senior Emily Finch said she disagrees with this.

“She’s very friendly and bubbly,” Finch said. “She is easy to talk to and very genuine. If I had to describe her in one word, it would be happy. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen her without a smile on her face.”

She said she does not remember how they met, but she remembers when she first heard Hetrick sing.

“My first memory I have of being around her was watching her perform at the MEISA Showcase ‘Sound on the Town’ last year,” she said. “The way she controls her voice when she sings is amazing.”

Garfrerick said Hetrick has a unique voice.

“I think for any artist, this is the best weapon that you have,” he said. “You are the only you that there is, as cliché as that sounds. Artists who have a sense of that early on I find impressive.”

Hetrick said she plans to become a music producer and open her own studio.

“I’ve started producing my own work,” she said. “I have a ton of material prepared for an album. I just want to make sure everything is good.”

Finch said Hetrick will do well in the future.

“A cool fact about Kat is that she has an ear for hearing arrangements,” Finch said. “She has put whole songs together for accompanying herself while she sings, which I think is pretty awesome.”

Hetrick said while she is making music her focus, she still engages with her other interests.

“I sometimes draw comics on the side,” she said. “As a person, I have a lot of anxiety about things. The comics are how I kind of cope. Things that have happened to me, I have drawn out, and I hope that my experiences can help someone else.”