I have been in Band since 5th grade. I played flute and was section leader in 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade. My freshman year of high school was the year of COVID (2020) and my passion for music died. I was still enrolled in Band, but the online schooling, distanced playing, and COVID procedures we had to go through were more than what I was getting out of performing since all of our concerts were being canceled. My sophomore year, I decided to give Band another try and I’m so glad I did. My teacher that year was Dan Bradstreet. He had worked 33 years at Prescott High School and that year was his retirement year. Where all the preceding years for Mr. Bradstreet had been aiming to have the best band in competitions around Arizona, my sophomore year was the one where he decided he was going to do and play what he wanted to. That year’s marching show was the best high school marching experience I’ve ever had. The community Mr. Bradstreet grew and the attitudes of all his students were above and beyond all previous years he had ever had. Instead of a certain score, everyone was striving for their best runs and personal satisfaction. Mr. Bradstreet wasn’t the most nurturing person, but he pushed for excellence and expected respect from everyone. On the outside, he was tough, but he truly cared for every one of his kids and celebrated our successes with us. He taught me how perseverance and taking responsibility were the most important things I could do as a performer. At the end of the year, we were all very proud of the work we put in and how connected we felt: like a family. Mr. Bradstreet still comes to our concerts and marching competitions; and even if he misses one, somehow he’ll know what happened and text us how proud he is. I’ve continued my pursuit in musical performance and have kept my position as section leader all 4 years of high school. This past summer I was contracted into a professional marching band called Pacific Crest DCI. I owe it all to Mr. Bradstreet and the pride he instilled in me for music. I plan to minor in music in college. To this day, I still live by the chant Mr. Bradstreet used to send us off every night with: “Enjoy the experience. Enjoy one another. Enjoy the pride. Here we grow.”

To me, education is learning what you are interested in doing in a safe, controlled environment. School is supposed to give you hundreds of different opportunities for you to explore potential careers and interests you have. It gives you the basics of reading, writing, math, science, and history which is a foundation in what you wish to pursue in the future. Then they also offer the basics of music, art, physical education, and computers to further expand your knowledge on these subjects. When you reach high school, you can test different and more specific electives to give you personalized experiences with people who are interested in similar things as you. When you go to college or start a job, you can continue your passions that grew from your education. I have always been a musical person. My mother put me in piano lessons from the age of four until I picked up the flute in fifth grade. I joined the band in middle school and added choir into my schedule in junior high school. In high school, I continued these classes and joined the school’s marching band. One of our visual techs in the marching band told me about a type of professional marching band I could audition for called DCI. I learned euphonium and auditioned for Pacific Crest in December of 2022. I was contracted and marched with the group on trumpet after I injured my wrist. I got to travel America with Pacific Crest and compete against other bands in DCI in the summer of 2023. Pacific Crest ended up placing 14th in the semifinals in Indianapolis, Indiana. My experience with the group was beyond what I could have hoped for and I hope to re-audition with them in 2025. If it wasn’t for my musical education and the opportunities given to me by the staff at my high school, I would have never gotten to see or experience what I did in Pacific Crest. Finally, my life goals include going to the University of Arizona, which I have already been accepted to, studying and getting my Master's in biochemistry, minoring in music, and someday working in the St. Jude Children’s Hospital Research Facility. I am in a high school scholar program called the National Society of High School Scholars which invited me and a guest to tour the St. Jude campus in Memphis Tennessee in March of 2023. My Mom and I flew there and got to walk around, talk to, and see firsthand what happens in the St. Jude hospital. We watched videos and listened to presenters sharing St. Jude’s purpose in life and the story of how their purpose came to be. My Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer in April of 2022 and has had continuous treatment for the past year and a half. It is a five-year treatment and she is so strong with how she is dealing with the aftermath and treatments, but I can still tell how much pain she can be in at times. After being informed about St. Jude’s goal of never losing a child to cancer again, I was moved. I watched cancer hurt my mother, and I can’t imagine what it would be like to watch a child who has barely lived deal with the same thing. I want to help in the fight against cancer so that one day no one will have to deal with the horrors that come with it.