Superintendent’s Spotlight: Siena “SiSi” Donahue

Warwick Valley Middle School eighth grader Siena “SiSi” Donahue plays the drums, she sings, she writes, she crushes equations, and she flies.

“Oh, I fly at way over 100 miles an hour,” said the 14-year old and nearly 10-year indoor skydiving veteran. “Actually, I used to like to say to people that, basically, I could fly in a Category 4.”

SiSi’s favorite terrestrial academic subjects are social studies and ELA. She shared that the class she’s doing best in this year has been math.

“And that’s shocking to me, because I’m not that great at math,” she said, adding that she challenged herself to improve. “So, I’m very proud of myself this year for getting better at math. I’ve been hitting all 90s, which is very exciting.”

Having to sacrifice a little time with her other favorite activities -- band and chorus -- to realize her math goal has been, admittedly, “a little annoying, but definitely helpful,” she said. SiSi’s been in both since fourth grade, and in the band, she plays percussion—a decision inspired by family.

“My dad did it. He was in a band in New York City when he was younger,” she said. “So, I already had a teacher to help me.”

SiSi played drums during the WVMS Guitar Club’s 30th Annual Rock Concert a couple of weeks ago. It was her first year in the club after being inspired by the fun she had supporting a friend at last year’s concert. She performed in two songs: “I Fought the Law” by The Clash and “Losing My Religion” by REM.

SiSi has also been into musical theater since fourth grade, when she played Rafiki in the Sanfordville Drama Club’s production of The Lion King. Now, as an eighth grader, she is a member of the WVMS Drama Club and is currently in rehearsals playing the part of cake-weary Bruce Fogtrotter in Matilda Jr.

This spring, SiSi will also be part of the Warwick Valley High School Drama Club’s production of Les Misérables. SiSi also pursues her passion for performance at the Warwick Center for the Performing Arts, where Warwick Valley High School’s very own vocal teacher, Noreen Hanson, is an instructor.

“[Ms. Hanson] was there, and I just asked if I could be one of the little kids who run around with Gavroche,” SiSi said. “She said I should go up and audition, so I did, and I got it. Now I’m singing in the ensemble!”

When you go to the spring musical, keep an eye and ear out for SiSi during “Beggars at the Feast,” “One Day More,” “ABC Café/Red and Black” and “The Epilogue.”

One of the things SiSi loves most about being in the band and drama club is that both have strong communities. She and her friends in both groups have been together since the Sanfordville days.

“And now we’re in eighth grade, four years later,” she said. “It’s just such a sweet group, because we’re all just extremely supportive of each other.”

Community and support are recurring themes in SiSi’s life. She has also found another tight-knit group in an unexpected place, the indoor skydiving world.

“My aunt, Catherine Donahue, is a crazy legend in the sport of actual skydiving. She passed away base jumping,” she said. “My dad wanted to honor her memory ... he got into indoor skydiving. I was young, and I’d go watch and was like, ‘this looks weird, let me try too!’ We started doing it as a hobby – a memorial – and here I am now!”

John Donahue remembers SiSi following his lead back in 2017, declaring she wanted to be as good, if not better, than Aunt Kat.

“I made the decision to honor [Kat] by living life differently and chasing each day like it was my last,” said Mr. Donahue. “Nothing has made me prouder than the journey we have gone on together to chase honoring her over the last ten years.”

You’d be hard-pressed to find another flyer of SiSi’s age in the tri-state area with her experience. She regularly flies with adults.

“It’s always such a cool experience to be flying with adults, considering I’m like a 14-year-old kid and they’re, like, 30 and up.”

SiSi and her dad go every Wednesday night to either the Paramus or Westchester iFly facility for Skydiver Nights, which SiSi said are times when experienced flyers get together to coach and learn from one another.

Featuring 14-foot multi-fan, vertical wind tunnels using advanced, recirculating air technology, iFly is a chain of indoor skydiving centers that provide safe, accessible indoor skydiving experience for participants ages three and up. Visit iflyworld.com for more information.

“We’ve been going every Wednesday for years,” she said. “That was how I mainly started out, just going every Wednesday, flying, and doing like 15 minutes or so of training.”

To try and give us ground dwellers some perspective on SiSi’s soaring, Mr. Donahue shared this with us via email during one of their recent Wednesday night iFly sessions:

She is flying at 152mph right now, and only weighs 94 lbs. The physics of this all is crazy! The plane I fly is a Cessna 172 and has a maximum cruise speed of 148 mph; go any faster and it’s going to hurt the plane. The Cessna weighs give or take 2000 lbs. SiSi flies her body faster than a Cessna!

It was at the encouragement of her fellow flyers that SiSi began training for competition when she turned 13. She trains in two categories, Freestyle and Solo Speed. During Solo Speed, flyers must complete a predetermined set of maneuvers within a set timeframe. In Freestyle, they have 60 seconds to perform their own choreographed routine.

SiSi was in her first competition back in November, the 2025 US Indoor Skydiving National Championship and US Open at iFly Colorado Springs.

“That was stressful, very fun though,” she said. “It was my first competition, and I placed third and second in my events. I’m very proud of myself for that!”

SiSi attributes much of her success to the support she gets from the indoor skydiving community, a global network she calls “a very wholesome, everybody loves everybody group.” She has found it incredibly welcoming, and its diverse membership is one of its biggest strengths.

“The vibe stays positive,” she said. “You could never really find a bad flyer, like, personality-wise.”

SiSi has nothing but love and gratitude for her fellow flyers, especially dad, and knows how fortunate she is to have grown up in the community.

“It taught me that no matter what, there are people who will support you, which is such a great thing to learn at a young age,” she said. “Because it gave me the confidence that, no matter what, even if I mess up, there will be people encouraging me to get back up and try again.”

SiSi is headed back to nationals next year, and she was also interviewed recently by ABC for an upcoming segment on the sport, which will air on Nightline.