I am a legacy musician, and I actually ended up play jazz because of my dad. When he was in middle school and high school, he was a pretty great trombone player, and I ended up following in his footsteps. I started playing trombone when I was in 7th grade and wasn't a super big fan of it, resulting in it becoming more of a hobby to me for the first few years of my playing. It wasn't until my sophomore year of high school when I joined my school's jazz band that I really started to be passionate about music, and more specifically jazz. I was newer to the music than most of my peers were, but I was determined to learn all I could and develop my skills as fast as I could, which resulted in me taking up the position of first chair my second year of jazz band. At first, I loved jazz for purely aesthetic reasons, enjoying the thrill of learning new solo vocabulary, the competitive musical environment, and the opportunity to make more decisions as an artist, as wind bands felt somewhat lacking in that department for me personally. But learning more about the history and cultural heritage of the music has helped me realize that jazz is fascinating in the historical and musical departments. I want to continue learning more about this music because it shapes the way I understand the institutionalized oppression of black and brown people in the U.S, encourages me to pursue social justice and education through jazz, as well as provides me with some sense of personal freedom by encouraging to explore what I want to convey through my art. Now I'm in my third year of playing jazz, and this fall I will be enrolling in the Global Jazz Studies program at the University of California Los Angeles, hopefully earning my bachelor's degree and soon after my master's degree. In my four to six years of college at UCLA I hope to make connections that will allow me to purse jazz professionally as a career, as well as continue the great aural tradition of jazz as a college level educator and private teacher. I want to record my own compositions and refine my sound as an artist, hopefully making an impact on the greater history of jazz. I also want to be also to use whatever platform I may develop to spread awareness about social issues and make a positive impact on the world outside of music through activism plus raising money for charity.