Loved by friends, family, and teachers, Larsen Gallian is a very hard-working and driven person. Although he may sometimes come off as quiet and maybe more reserved than others, there is still so much more about him that deserves to be noticed. An excellent student, a promising athlete, a loving brother, as well as a wise and funny friend are all attributes that describe Larsen.

As the oldest of three, senior Larsen Gallian lives at home with both his parents and two younger siblings: his brother Luke, a ninth grader currently finishing up his freshman year here at West Chicago Community High School, and Dayna, a seventh grader at Leman Middle School. All five of them live together in quite a busy household that also consists of several pets, including three dogs, chickens, horses, a ferret, and a wild bird. 

Larsen has spent his entire life living in West Chicago. Before high school, he attended Indian Knoll Elementary, as well as Leman Middle School. As far as growing up, Larsen describes his younger self as much more shy and reserved compared to others his age. Although he is still pretty shy and quiet most of the time. 

“I guess you could say I’ve gotten more relaxed. I used to be nervous a lot,” said Larsen. 

“I didn’t really spend my time well when I was younger, I did a lot of things I didn’t need to. I used to play video games a lot.” 

Even as he spoke, it was clear by his tone of voice that his video gaming habits were not something he felt proud to admit. But, at Leman, he was determined to change his lack of ambition. In sixth grade, Larsen started track, and, after learning about the school’s wrestling team in seventh grade, he decided in eighth grade to give it a try. 

Even now, as a senior in high school, Larsen continues to pursue both sports and has spent the past few years on both Varsity teams. In fact, as Larsen very confidently said, his favorite thing here at WEGO would have to be the sports community. 

“The atmosphere that you get here in a sport is always safe and fun. If you have a bad day at school, the people there are always really supportive,” said Larsen.

Although wrestling and track take up a lot of time and commitment, they are both something he will continue to explore and enjoy moving forward. 

Like most boys his age, Larsen will still spend some, but not too much, of his time playing video games. Instead, he would rather dedicate most of his freetime to family and friends. 

“Larsen likes to keep to himself until he’s comfortable around you, then he’ll be more goofy and outgoing. He’s very wise,” said long-time friend and former WEGO student Josh Bangert.

Throughout the years, Larsen has been inspired by his father, Richard Gallian. 

“He went to college and he works really hard. He’s been a good father and that’s what I want to be,” said Larsen. 

Larsen’s father introduced him to Christianity, and since his childhood, faith has played a very important role in Larsen’s life. As Larsen said, “The Bible has definitely had a positive impact on me. It has really opened my eyes and helped me deal with anxiety. I also have my father to thank for that.” 

In the future, Larsen would also love to do missionary work through his church. He loves helping people and hopes that by spreading God’s message of hope and faith through the gospel, just as his father once shared with him, that its word may be spread and encourage those in need of its uplifting message. 

“My favorite memories with Larsen were when we went on a mission trip to Greece. We got to know each other a lot more,” said Bangert.

Family is important to Larsen as well. He enjoys being a big brother, and shares a close relationship with both of his siblings.

“My little sister would probably call me the crazy and fun older brother,” said Larsen.

His younger brother, freshman Luke Gallian, described Larsen as “pretty quiet, but he’s also a really nice person once you get to know him.”

Someday, hopefully soon, Larsen would also like to visit Norway. Both of his grandparents are from the Baltic country, but immigrated to the United States at a young age, leaving many of their more distant relatives behind. Although his grandparents have not been back since, Larsen hopes that, at some point they do; he would love to go with them to meet more of his family and maybe learn more about himself along the way.

Academics are important to Larsen, who considered Benedictine University in Kansas, William Penn University in Iowa, and Marian University located in Indiana. Before committing to William Penn University for the upcoming school year.

“My favorite subject in school is science,” said Larsen. “It’s hard to explain why. It’s interesting but also a hard class. Still, physics is one of my favorite classes.” 

“Larsen was an excellent student and probably one of my best, he was always on top of his game, said Larsen’s former physics teacher Christopher Camerano. “Physics and the ideas always came very naturally to him. Working in class he was always very involved and you could see that interest and curiosity in his work. Even when it came to lab write ups Larsen’s answers  were always much more detailed and intuitive than they really needed to be.”

In college, Larsen hopes to earn a degree in Civil Engineering. 

“There are a lot of different types of engineering, but I [find] civil engineering interesting because it’s about engineering cities and buildings and other things like that,” said Larsen.