I co-founded the Music Therapy Club at University Liggett School to reach community members in need of music in their lives. I perform on violin with fellow student musicians for patients, family, and staff at a local cancer treatment center. This year, we have expanded our outreach to a nearby assisted living facility and have volunteered our services at school-sponsored events. I am also the student music director and concertmaster of the University Liggett School Pit Orchestra. I lead the violin section for the annual musical and run sectional rehearsals after school. In addition to musical leadership, I am the president of the University Liggett School Core Values Council. I work with faculty to plan events that engage the entire student body, such as cultural showcases, and I collaborate with leaders of other clubs to organize activities. For example, we put together a community service event to assemble care packages for local charities and make gifts for residents at a senior center. Through this leadership work, I have made an impactful contribution to the school, promoting our core values of community, empathy, integrity, excellence, and respect. In the fall, I anticipate playing violin or viola in the Swarthmore College Orchestra and joining a chamber music ensemble. I plan to take private violin and viola lessons, and I also hope to get involved in the school’s musical theater productions, either onstage or in the orchestra pit. I am also motivated to start a music therapy club like the one I co-founded in high school. I envision myself going into the greater Philadelphia community to lift the spirits of people undergoing medical treatment or residents of nursing homes. Additionally, I hope to continue serving as a mentor to younger students, taking advantage of any opportunities to visit local schools to give music lessons. Academically, I plan to explore courses in the Music Department such as composition, music theory, and musicology. For the past year, I have been working on an Academic Research Project about the Romantic music period, a topic I chose to investigate because it connects my interest in history with my love of music. In college, I would like to learn even more about the intersection between artistic movements and the sociopolitical landscapes of different eras. Ultimately, I hope to discover a career path that allows me to share my love of music and history with curious kids like me.

I have played baseball since I was five years old on Little League, travel baseball, and community league teams. I am now in my fourth year playing high-school baseball at University Liggett School, where I have pitched and played various infield and outfield positions. In addition to daily practices and double headers during the season, I have attended spring training with my team at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. I have also participated in weekly off-season workouts and group training sessions as well as individual lessons. Baseball provides many opportunities for failure through strikeouts, wild pitches, or missed plays in the field. Having experienced all of these setbacks, I have discovered that my best quality as a baseball player is my attitude. I grew up hearing that “baseball is 90% mental,” but I thought that this saying referred to a player’s ability to concentrate or anticipate the situation. However, as I got older, I realized that letting go of each disappointment is just as important as making smart plays, and I have found that I can make the most positive contribution to my team’s success through my behavior and my outlook. As a co-captain, I shared my enthusiasm and optimism with my teammates through encouraging words and positive body language. At the end of the season, the coach recognized my efforts with the Knight of Honor Award for sportsmanship and teamwork. My experiences on the field have inspired me to take on other leadership roles at school that require collaboration and character. As the president of the Core Values Council, I work with faculty to plan events that engage the entire student body, such as cultural showcases. I send weekly updates to council officers and collaborate with leaders of other clubs to organize activities. For example, we put together a community service event to assemble care packages for local charities and make gifts for residents at a senior center. I also developed a “Week of Kindness” initiative to encourage students to show compassion by spreading small acts of generosity. The activity helped bring the community together as students thanked cafeteria workers, held the door for visitors, picked up litter, and assisted teachers after class. Through this work, I have made my most impactful contribution to University Liggett School, promoting community, empathy, integrity, excellence, and respect. In addition, I co-founded the Music Therapy Club to reach community members in need of music in their lives. I perform on violin with fellow student musicians for patients, family, and staff at the St. John’s cancer treatment center. This year, we have expanded our outreach to an assisted living facility and have volunteered our services at school-sponsored events. I am also the student music director and concertmaster of the University Liggett School Pit Orchestra. I lead the violin section for the annual musical and run sectional rehearsals. These experiences have all prepared me to take on a leadership position at Swarthmore College, where I intend to make positive contributions to my future campus community by acting with purpose and serving as a positive role model to my peers.

C major, A minor, F major, G major 7—this simple chord progression forms the template for most pop songs of the 1950s and early 1960s. I came to this realization shortly before declaring my intention to become the next guitarist in my family’s doo-wop band, The Liras. I have grown up listening to my mom and aunt sing in harmony with my grandpa—the keyboardist and bandleader—alongside my Uncle Paul on drums and my Great Uncle Sonny on guitar. They performed sporadically at fundraisers and festivals when I was a kid, but ever since Uncle Sonny died, The Liras have been on an extended hiatus. Back in 1962, my grandpa formed the Italian-currency-inspired band with his brother and cousin. They played local sock hops and dinner dances. After he retired in 2009, he revived The Liras and invited my mom and her siblings to join. Last year, as my grandparents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary approached, I encouraged my family to play a set at the party my parents were planning. They expressed skepticism at first, but I convinced them that if I learned to play the songs on guitar, then the third incarnation of The Liras could come to life. My experience with string instruments gave me the confidence to embrace this challenge. I had recently returned from two weeks of cooperative summer camp at Circle Pines Center, where I had figured out the chords to folk songs while strumming the guitar around the campfire. Before that, I had learned to play the ukulele with my class at the Detroit Waldorf School. Although I did not have any formal guitar training, thirteen years of violin lessons and countless orchestra rehearsals had provided me with a strong musical foundation and the discipline to practice. I sequestered myself in my bedroom with a guitar chord chart and a worn-out CD. Playing along with the recordings, I experimented with different rhythmic patterns and triad inversions to emulate the rock-and-roll sound. I drilled the chord sequences and transitions—verse, chorus, bridge, chorus—and tested various intro and outro options. Slowly but surely, I made my way through the proposed repertoire for the anniversary party, rediscovering these songs that lived inside me as some of my earliest memories. With regular repetition, the chord changes seeped into my fingers, and I was ready to make music with others. Three generations of my family gathered in my grandparents’ basement for our first rehearsal together. In this session, I came to appreciate the contributions of each member to the success of the group. My grandpa had to contend with playing piano while simultaneously singing the correct harmony, and my uncle had to keep us all in the right tempo with his steady drumbeat. I completed the sound, driving the energy forward with my guitar playing. Through the rehearsal process, I learned lessons about careful listening, continuous counting, and knowing when to lead and when to follow. The big day arrived. Dressed up in my mod suit and pastel tie, I plugged in my seafoam-green Fender. My uncle looked over to see if I was ready and then gave four quick drum clicks to bring the band in together. My mom, sister, cousin, and aunt sang backup vocals and took turns singing lead on “Going to the Chapel” by The Dixie Cups in honor of my grandparents. The guests applauded, and I noticed tears in my grandpa’s eyes. I felt grateful for the opportunity to carry on this tradition and proud to make music with my family as we celebrated “One Fine Day” that none of us will ever forget.