Growing up, hard work was never optional. An avid saltwater fisherman, my dad is the most persistent person I know. His passion for the salt is unparalleled, and the rigor that he constantly professed to his passions became that of my own. From him, I learned the delicate dance of balancing passion with hard work. No one commits to the game as he does. Persistence, patience, and perseverance. These are invaluable traits I’ve learned from him and have applied repeatedly in many areas of my life, including sports, competitive dance, work, and school. “Work hard to play hard”, my dad would often say. Truly, it is my family who taught me what grit looks like through the examples they set in their own careers. Along with his passion for deep-sea fishing, my father owns a landscaping business and works for himself. A one-man show of relentless labour, all to provide for my family. On the other hand, my mother is a teacher; she has taught me patience and compassion as well as how to have a strong sense of commitment. Watching my parents approach their careers and passions with such rigor and determination taught me where true success comes from… the ability to persist through anything. Each day, I carry what they have taught me into my own education by always muscling through the academic ups and downs. While in high school, I can proudly say that my dedication has allowed me to earn and maintain a 3.76 unweighted GPA while balancing a rigorous academic course load and maintaining high scores in multiple honors and AP classes, which did not always come with ease. Many hours were spent after school, studying, working, and retaking all to achieve what I know would not only make me proud, but live up to the hardworking mindset that my parents instilled in me from a very young age. While working to better myself every day academically, I made sure to push myself outside of school as well. Being an active member of the national honors society has not only allowed me to converse with other hardworking and like-minded students, but it has also given me a volunteering opportunity that I will never forget, which is volunteering for my local library in my small rural town of Shutesbury. This work has allowed me to become closer to my community and interact with residents of all ages while providing help and information to people each week. Outside of the classroom, I identify as a dancer. Each day of the week after school, you can find me in the dance studio collaborating with my teammates and learning new choreography. I have been dancing consistently since I was only three years old, and I plan to bring my passions for dance and creative arts with me to higher education. Since taking ballet classes when I was younger throughout the years at my studio, I have explored many kinds of dance, such as contemporary, lyrical, ballet, and jazz. I was also invited to join my studio's competition team, and I continued to compete throughout high school. Throughout my competition years, my team and I were awarded with many high-scoring dances and special choreography awards; the placing of our dances was never something that mattered to me. My true passion was always in performing for the audience and showing our craft. Ultimately, through my experience in and out of school in the past four years, I have always tried to put my best foot forward and embody the values that my parents taught me: persistence and hard work.