It was Christmas light shows on television that resulted in senior Beckett Chambers programming lights for his house every year. 

After watching these shows, he and his father were inspired to try building lights themselves, so the two built an entire computer system and program to create the light show. 

“All of the computers that control our lights are homemade, and every song is programmed by us,” explained the senior. “It’s a very hands-on process and almost none of it can be pre-bought because there really just isn’t a market for these kinds of things.” 

Years of creating light shows has served to improve Chambers’ problem solving and creativity skills.

“When building all of your own props, it takes a lot of ingenuity to build a feature that will work the way you intend it to, not cost hundreds of dollars to build, and hold its own against Wisconsin weather,” he said. “On top of that also comes the issue of protecting all of your equipment outside with innovative solutions, which for the most part have yet to fail.”

This work has also taught him a lot about music theory, as it is necessary to be able to pick apart every little detail of a song if the lights are to match the music. 

This, according to him, “takes years upon years of practice.” 

On top of Christmas light decoration, Chambers has had numerous unforgettable life experiences that have shaped his life in various ways. 

Living in Green Bay for the majority of his life, he has always enjoyed the outdoors and has been camping with his family for as long as he can remember. 

“I’ve always been someone who loves winter and have been skiing in the mountains pretty much since I could walk,” he said. 

This led the young Chambers to join the high school ski team when he was in fourth grade, and he has been competitively cross country skiing ever since. 

This competitive spirit also extends to the music world, where he has been playing the piano competitively since he was in third grade.

On top of everything else, he has also recently developed a passion for all aspects of traveling (road trips, national parks, hiking, backpacking, rock/ice climbing). 

This passion started in the summer of his sophomore year when his family took a road trip to Glacier National Park and stopped at numerous national parks along the way. 

“Ever since then, I have fallen in love with the national parks and they have been something I admire and hope to see much more of when I leave home,” he explained. 

Chambers has visited many national parks in the U.S, including Acadia, Badlands, Theodore Roosevelt, Mt. Rushmore, Devil’s Tower, Grand Teton, Yellowstone, Glacier, Arches, Canyonlands, Bryce Canyon, Zion, Capitol Reef and Everglades. 

He has additionally been to Banff National Park in Canada and has climbed multiple mountains in Colorado. 

Entering his final year of high school, he felt it best to take his senior photos in the Grand Tetons because the mountains represent him better than anything in Green Bay.

“These experiences have been very valuable to me in seeing the country as a whole, and exposing myself to different lifestyles outside of just what we know in the Midwest,”explained Chambers. “There are so many different lifestyles across the country, and I think there are a lot of things that often go unnoticed or don’t get the recognition that they deserve purely because ‘that’s not what’s popular.’”