Yoko Okano

King's Junior-Senior High School (Seattle)

Hometown: Edmonds

College: Stanford University

You wouldn't know it from her schedule, but Yoko Okano is all about fun.

Her piano is serious business — no doubt — but she insists on enjoying the music. And the better she gets, the deeper it goes.

"I like getting to the point where you understand what the composer's doing and it makes sense," said the 18-year-old. "It's a way to make bonds with many people at the same time."

"She has confidence but there's no ego. She's a very unassuming person and especially thoughtful," said Dolores Wells, of the Academy of Music Northwest, where the pianist has studied for five years. "If she weren't going off to Stanford, we'd have her run the school for us."

But Okano, whose grade-point average is 3.99, has no time to run a music school — yet.

Until graduation, her life was a jumble of piano lessons, chamber-music ensemble and accompaniment rehearsals, school-choir trips and Advanced Placement homework. Plus several hours of practice every day.

She's volunteered with Edmonds' Japanese sister-city visitors, attended Japanese school every Saturday and tutored a Japanese-language student. This summer she'll travel to her native Japan before beginning a double major in piano performance and international relations at Stanford.

With that schedule, it's no wonder her favorite hobbies are sleeping and eating.

"I love sleeping," she confessed. "Sleeping and eating ice cream."

Academic achievements: Class valedictorian, National Honor Society, Edmonds Arts Commission scholarship.

Advice for younger students: "Find something you enjoy and be passionate about it."

— Paysha Stockton