Editor’s Note: “Hawks Uncovered” is a series that tells the often unknown stories of Hebron students and staff.

Left, right. Left, right.

It’s one foot in front of the other, no matter where he is. For senior Adam Vorhaben, the familiar pattern of his feet hitting the ground bleeds into every aspect of his life. 

When he marches in band, it is the beat that plays underneath the music he makes. It was the beat he heard the first time he picked up the trombone and began to play in sixth grade, and the one he spends hours perfecting after school. Whether it’s on the football field or in the parking lot, it is left, right until he blends seamlessly into the sea of band members. 

It is the beat he marched to in the biggest moments of his life: left, right his freshman year, when band took home its first gold state medal. It was left, right the following year, when playing in front of overflowing crowds at the Texas Music Educators Association honor band performance and the year after that at the Bands of America Grand Nationals. 

When he runs, it is the thudding of his feet against the pavement that calms him into a second of clarity. The beat is in track, too: left, right when he runs hurdles. Left, right when he runs his own event, his own race — the one place where he’s “in charge of [his] own success.”

As he stood in the hallway outside the arena, he waited for the other members of the senior court to walk out. There is a left, right as he walks out, name being called out and arm linked with his mom’s.

As he stands, the racing thump, thump of his heart joins the left, right of his feet. He goes to his spot, waits for everyone else to be announced, and tries to press down his nerves. 

There is no left, right as he waits — just a long pause. 

Then it is his name that’s called, and the world continues with the left, right of his feet as he goes to accept the crown. It is left, right, left, right: just as he always wants it to be.