By Brittney Mangum
Reporter
“Be sure you respect others and respect yourself,” advised George Volking. “Listen to your parents, listen to God, and make good decisions.”
George Volking does his best every day to make good decisions and be a blessing to everyone around him.
He has been blessed with an amazing musical talent.
“I enjoy playing guitar, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, piano, and trumpet. I play trumpet in the high school band,” explained George. “I started playing the mandolin when I was eight. After that, I started adding on and learning new instruments. My dad taught me how to play all those instruments. I like the banjo. I really like them all because they’re fun to play. I like the genres of music that go along with them.”
He doesn’t just use his musical ability at home. He uses his talents at church as well.
“My dad is the preacher out at Elim Baptist Church. I play my instruments in church,” expressed George. “Sometimes I don’t know what I’m going to play until the morning of when my dad tells me. Currently, I’m the pianist in the church.”
He and his family actually just created their first CD: Healing Hands.
“We just got our CD done in December. It’s on Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Pandora, and a few others,” informed George. “We recorded at The MAX in Meridian. All the songs on it are original; my dad wrote all of them except one, and my late grandpa mainly wrote that song.”
His talent on the trumpet has allowed him to make some great achievements in band.
“I’ve made numerous clinics in my time in band: SEMDA, JCJC Honor Band, and William Carey Honor Band,” listed George. “In eighth grade, I made the All-State Junior High Band and was second chair in the state.”
One of his greatest band achievements happened recently: earning a spot in the Mississippi Lion’s Band.
“This year I made Lion’s Band, so I’ll get to go to Canada,” declared George. “At first, I was an alternate. Then, I got a call a few weeks later, and the board director asked if I wanted a spot. I said yes. We’re supposed to go to Canada in June.”
George has worked diligently throughout his high school career to earn the privilege of being part of the Lion’s Band. Despite various obstacles in the past, he was determined and continued to try until he became successful.
“I tried out my ninth, tenth, and eleventh grade years too,” recalled George. “I was called back my freshman year. The year after that, they lost my scores. When I tried out my junior year, I was one away from a callback. They had written my name down wrong. Now, I made it and get to go somewhere out of the country. I’ve never been out of the country before.”
He really loves music and plans on continuing in something involving music once he is out of high school. In fact, his real desire is to be a musical artist.
“I’m going to college. I’m not necessarily sure where yet. I’m leaning towards some colleges like William Carey or Belhaven. I haven’t really decided what I want to major in. I think I’m going to major in music and go from there,” stated George. “Really, my main goal is to be an artist. I want to do all the recording and travelling. I’m working on writing my own stuff. It’s getting there. I’m just not quite ready to put it out there yet.”
After undergoing a major medical emergency when he was in fifth grade, George now possesses a positive perspective on different things.
“I had to go to Blair Batson on December 24, 2014, and stay there a little while. I had E. Coli in my bloodstream, and it messed up my kidney and all,” remembered George. “I just wasn’t feeling well one week and blacked out and everything. I can remember very vague things like riding in an ambulance. They’re not really sure how I got it. It was an interesting experience. I had to go to rehab to get my body built back up. I didn’t even go back to school the rest of the year because of the rehab. They also didn’t want me exposed to everything. They didn’t want to risk me getting anything because I was still pretty weak. That was during the time of the Ebola scare, and I remember talking to some friends afterwards and explaining that I had E. Coli and not Ebola. I’m fine now. I love everything. I could not be here at all right now. You look at things differently after you have an experience like that.”
While his medical conditions made it where he wasn’t able to participate in some of the sports that he always had, George is very involved in school and has even discovered a new talent for acting.
“I’m in band, Beta Club, and attend FCA on Wednesdays,” informed George. “I’m in theater now. I have a part in the Big Bad Musical. I play the Big Bad Wolf. My friends had told me that I should be in the play and would be perfect for it. They told me I should try out for it, so I did and got the part. The play is set for the tenth of March; we still have plenty of stuff to work on with learning lines and everything.”
When he isn’t at school or working with his music, George has other things he enjoys, such as collecting cards.
“I used to collect Yu-Gi-Oh cards and had a whole box of them. Later on, I got into collecting sports cards. I collected basketball and football cards because I’m big into sports as well,” explained George. “My uncle gave me a lot of my cards. There are still some cards I want and don’t have. I don’t have the card for my favorite basketball player of all time, and I want his card so bad: Pete Maravich, also known as Pistol Pete.”
He has a passion for history and loves the “oldies.” In fact, he has done research into his own family history and learned an abundance of information about his own ancestors.
“I’m kind of an old soul. I like Elvis, Johnny Cash, and those types of guys. I like old movies and old T.V. shows. I like watching John Wayne,” proclaimed George. “I’m a big history nerd. I enjoy history, and I enjoy studying my genealogy. I do ancestry.com and all that. It’s fun. I found out I’m related to a couple presidents; I’m related to Abraham Lincoln. He’s like a cousin six times removed. The first Volking that came here was a sea captain from Germany.”
He’s also learned other interesting facts and details about his family history as he’s studied it over the years.
No matter what he does, George uses all of his abilities to bring joy to others, and he will continue to do his best each day. With his perseverance, his name will surely be known in the music industry in many places outside of Clarke County in the upcoming years.
If you would like to nominate someone for Person of the Week, contact Brittney Mangum at 601-776-3726
