I stayed with my grandparents for two weeks over the summer between my freshman and sophomore year in high school in order to attend a ballet intensive program in Orlando, Florida. My grandfather, a Vietnam veteran, is a master model railroader and has a huge railroad room. My grandparents knew that I was interested in architecture and really enjoyed art. My grandfather decided to have me build a building for his railroad. I was honored to spend the time making the “shoe shop” for a small town modeled after the wild west following his directions. I started by acquiring the wood pieces that we needed and sanding them to size. Next he taught me how to paint the wood so that it looked realistic. We painted the walls a rustic red with a white tim around them and a slate gray roof. I learned to use a sponge and paint thinner instead of a brush to make the paint look more worn down. They looked so cool and matched the rest of his railroad perfectly. We constructed and glued the base together and he directed me how to assemble the rest of the building. I really enjoyed learning how he repurposes materials to work in the model world. We used microscope coverslips for the window glass and black thread for the power lines. He also uses real tree branches for some of the trees in his railroad. I built a small chair to sit outside on the porch of the shop and I placed a scale man to be the cobbler. I put two small birds on the roof and details to show it was used, including leaving the front door slightly cracked to make it seem as if someone is inside. After working on the building almost every day for two weeks, my favorite part was to put the finished building on his railroad. My mother was his only child to make a building for him. She had made a small shed when she was small. I am his only grandchild to have made a building that sits on his award winning railroad. I am honored to have done this and cherish this time with him. My building is also still on his railroad, showing that I had done a good job because he is always changing his railroad, by taking away and adding buildings to it. My building never leaving his railroad shows how well my building fits into his railroad town and how he cherishes the memory of building it with me as much as I cherish building the shoe shop with him.

There is no room for mistakes, no improvisation. Math has rules and techniques; one wrong move and the answer is incorrect. Math is focused, fast, and steady. I can perform mathematical calculations and have a correct answer. Math has improved my self-confidence in school. Despite being told in second grade that only boys do well in math, I have excelled. I took that statement as a challenge and by third grade was winning first place in the school's Continental Math League competitions. Other parents pressured my mother to hold me back in math in middle school, but she did not. I was the only high school freshman at my school who volunteered to compete in the American Mathematics Competition. I have continued to excel and am now the only girl in my school taking multivariable calculus and AP Physics C. I also love to apply math reasoning to other parts of my life. For the past four years, I have enjoyed volunteering to tutor middle students in math during my lunch break at school. My extracurricular activity, ballet, also has rules and techniques similar to math, one wrong move and the audience will notice. The memorization and application of rules, applying these to other activities, self-confidence I have gained, and seeing when a young student finally understands, are just some of the reasons that I love math.

I run onto stage into place, ready to start. There is no room for mistakes, no improvisation. Ballet has rules and technique, one wrong move and the audience will notice. Ballet has shaped my life while also preparing me for my future. I have always liked to be creative, whether it was painting, drawing, dancing, or crocheting, but I also thrive with rules and parameters, such as those in mathematics. Ballet has been my primary creative activity for eleven years. It has helped me in school and life. Through ballet, I have become proficient at learning quickly, time management, responsibility, respect, humility, cooperation, the value of hard work, and leadership. I learned to excel at memorizing information, as ballet choreography has to be memorized. Ballet directors will sometimes craft entire scenes as they instruct me and the other dancers and expect us to remember the choreography just taught. To be a successful dancer I mastered techniques to quickly learn and memorize content. These skills are especially beneficial in math classes where I also have to learn quickly to excel. Time management is another important skill ballet has taught me. I have ballet class and rehearsal five days a week for several hours each day, requiring that I balance my homework effectively in order to complete my work while still being able to sleep. Ballet has also taught me responsibility and respect. I have to know my choreography as well as other dancers' choreography in case I need to fill in at rehearsal. I apply this skill to my academics by working with others as well as completing my work in a timely manner. Responsibility is taught by having everything I need for class and rehearsal with me, including proper attire, so I can participate. Different performances have props to use, which adds to my responsibilities, as the ballerina who handles the prop must care for it. Respect is shown in ballet by caring for props and thanking my teachers for the lesson at the end of class. I have also learned humility and have genuine respect toward others who excel at an activity. I respect all of my teachers and my peers through the work I have done in the past with people of different work styles, while learning from others through collaboration. Cooperation is taught through the corps de ballet, which is the group of synchronized background dancers. We have to learn how to work together and become one in order to make the performance flawless. I apply these skills to my academics by working with others as well as completing my work in a timely manner. Ballet has also taught me leadership. Many of the younger dancers look to me for help with the choreography as well as learning the culture of the studio. The directors have noticed the leadership skills I possess and have asked me to lead upper level rehearsals and classes. They also hired me to teach classes to young children at the studio. I love to dance, and ballet will always be a part of my life that I will cherish forever. Although many dancers in my company have become professional ballerinas, it is not my dream. However, I will use the skills I have learned from ballet for many other situations. I look forward to using these skills in college, while learning new concepts, working with my peers, in the workforce, and with my family.