Wrestling, the Marines, orchestra, soccer, and motocross. She does it all. Avrie Misztal, 12, is defying all gender stereotypes as she paves her own path through high school. Her name is synonymous with diversity, as she is involved with activities ranging from reading sheet music to beating up boys twice her size.

From a young age, Avrie began to explore her different interests. Her attraction to orchestra started in the 5th grade and continued to evolve once she got into high school. Making her way up in the ranks, she eventually earned first chair her junior year. Now, Avrie is part of the symphony orchestra ― one of the highest levels the school offers. Orchestra is an aspect of Avrie’s life that allows her to concentrate and use her mind to it’s full potential. “Everything about orchestra is challenging. It’s really fast math and it’s hard counting and staying in tune and keeping up with your fingers all of the time. It’s like a guessing game,” described Avrie.

While orchestra is a contributing factor to Avrie’s success, wrestling is where she is able to throw people off. “I love it. It’s fun being the only girl too. People think that I can’t do a lot, which, for the record, I’m really bad at wrestling. I last like two rounds…which is pretty good for how bad I am,” explained Avrie. Although she describes her wrestling career as unsatisfactory, in her years of wrestling, Avrie has accumulated numerous captivating stories. “I went to Bear Creek and I was like 9 lbs underweight. So the guy I wrestled was about 150 lbs and I was 140. He was huge and he was all muscle. We started out and I was doing pretty decent. Then he picked me up and slammed me down really hard. At wrestling tournaments it gets very loud, it’s like a rock concert, but when I hit the mat the whole place fell silent and looked at me. I really didn’t know what happened. I started to bleed everywhere. I stumbled over to the table and coach caught me and asked if I could wrestle. I was like ‘coach, I’m not a cat (but in other words). I can still go.’ I eventually lost.”

Along with wrestling, Avrie has decided to enlist in the Marines after she graduates, another male-dominant part in society. Although she seems like the perfect fit for the job, there are still many obstacles in her way to achieving her dreams. “Only 1% of the population joins the military. In the marines only 1% of that 1% are females. Along with that, I wanna do combat jobs, so that’s even less. When you think of the military you’re like ‘oh my god you’re such a badass, you’re so cool’, but I like the discipline part of it more and just being a better person in general,” Avrie explains. Her father, Jim Misztal, is one of Avrie’s biggest fans, even when he’s supporting her for something as serious as the military. “I don’t necessarily like it because she’s my girl and I want her to be safe, but at the same time I admire her for wanting to go into something that I would consider kind of spooky even as a dude, let alone a girl. Ultimately I want to support her…because she’s going to do it either way,” says Jim.

Other than wanting to go into the Marines to become more disciplined and a better person, she is also doing it for her twin brother. “I feel like my brother really inspired me because he’s deaf in his left ear so he can’t enlist. Since we were little we played army and we’d go out and shoot our little BB guns, so it feels right and I’m drawn to that stuff. Along with the fact that he can’t do it so I’m doing it for him, and for myself,” explains Avrie.

Avrie sees the ups and the downs to being a tomboy, “People are kinda scared of me. That’s good and bad in some ways. I don’t really have a boyfriend, so that’s kinda bad… But people are just so amazed that I wrestle, because it’s so different. I don’t really have friends though. I’ve got a lot of acquaintances. I’d say Katie, my dad, Boccard, and Mr. Ferraro are pretty much my gang… that’s all I’ve got. I enjoy being alone.” Avrie’s dad describes how she has always stood out, “She’s one of those people who is perfectly content with being alone. Her independence is something that I don’t necessarily love because I want her to be more talkative with more people and I want her to do more things, and sometimes I think she should involve herself more.”

Avrie’s independence and differences have allowed her to create an interesting and diverse outlook on life, “I think I’m pretty different, I mean I wrestle, I’m enlisting into the marines, I play orchestra, I’m a huge nerd with some things, but I’m also really tough. I love every single genre of music. I think it makes me more of an open person to everything in life, which I like because I can get along with pretty much anyone.”

With everything set on her path, Avrie has one ambition in mind, “to not end up a cat lady. That’s about it. As long as I’m not a cat lady and I’m doing what makes me happy, I’ll be set.”