Music has been very influential in my life, but one of the biggest things it has done for me is find a community. A loving school and Christian community that shares my interests, and knows me for who I am. It has also been very healing for me emotionally in the past several years. I have been involved in choir for 6 years (and counting!) and have been cast in musical theater productions for 2 years. I have not been doing musical theater for as long, but I am interested in pursuing it as a career. Many of my current friends were made through choir and musical theater, and they've supported me throughout my life. They've assisted me in becoming a better person, a better Christian, and a better vocal musician. One of my hopes and prayers is to be able to keep the friends I've made through a shared passion for music. I believe music can really connect people to each other on an emotional and spiritual level, and I have truly experienced that! Doing music in school, and hopefully professionally, is (and will continue to be) life changing for me. One of the scarier things I have dealt with in life are family struggles and mental health. I have been raised by a single parent for the majority of my life so far, and music has been one of the things that has gotten me through the waterfall of emotions and issues that me and my Dad have gone through while he was trying his very best to raise me. One song that I've felt truly connected to is called "Turning Out" by the band AJR. It's not a very contemporary song, but it's a good example of lyrics in music that hit way too close to home. It also has beautiful usage of strings and piano that isn't usually seen in other recently released music. I believe the song has a romantic undertone, but I never took it that way. I always saw the song as more of a platonic sort of love, the person singing being afraid to love and doubting the love they have for a person because they act childish. But it's still hopeful, the lines "I hope you stick around, we're gonna figure it out" truly hitting me right in the heart. It reminds me of myself and my Dad. Me and him have had to learn so much while he was raising me, and sometimes we would have outbursts at each other. Very childish, rage and hate-filled outbursts. We act childish and don't know what we're doing sometimes, we get confused. But despite that, we're still going to figure it out. I still love him so much, and he still loves me so much, and we'll get better together. This just goes to show how lyricism in music can really connect to people, and affect people. There are so many other examples I could give for this, but I believe this is the best way for me to explain how I connect to music on an emotional level. I even get this way with choral music that we learn in school, I find myself getting attached to beautiful lyrics that carry so much meaning within them. Just as I mentioned earlier, I'm happy to say that music as a whole has changed me and my life in so many positive ways, and I'm so grateful God has gifted me with an affinity for music.

The internet has always been beneficial to my education, especially with classes that focus (or focused) on completing work online. During pandemic times, Microsoft Teams was very helpful for my learning. I wasn't used to learning online only at the time, but the app's layout and how it worked helped me work better with the "online-only" format of teaching and lessons. It was much easier to ask teachers questions through Teams. I could directly message them and they would quickly return the response. I could even schedule tutor times with teachers. We would both get on a video call and they would assist me with work or studying to boost my learning. It was extremely beneficial to my schooling at the time. A lot of the online work and tools from then was kept and many teachers now are still assigning online work. I love this, because while working on a computer (or with a computer) I have a lot more resources for studying and help with work other than my teachers. This was the case during pandemic times as well, but even now the online resources I have are amazing. Like a website called Leo, for example. It is a language website for searching the translation and conjugation of specific words in a language. It is an easy accessible and easy-to-use tool that has saved me a lot of time. I could quickly search for an English word and get a German word back in return for my German class. Gimkit and Quizlet are more on the fun side, but are still wonderful studying sites that have really helped me with remembering material. Both of them are more for memorizing, but memorizing is the first good step to truly understanding course material. Also, being able to turn studying into a game is an amazing thing! It has made the idea of sitting down and studying a lot more desirable for me, being able to remember material and play a fun little timed game at the same time. There are many more I have used in life that have made schooling so much easier for me, but these in specific have had large impacts on how I enjoy learning... In a good way, of course. When I was a little younger and playing games on the computer, I never even considered using the internet for growing my brain, but now that I have, I'm really grateful for the resources that the internet has.

Success takes time to achieve. It is not an easy thing to reach, but reaching success is worth the time, effort, and stress that goes into following that path. The path is different for everyone, it could be shorter or longer, depending on the goals and mindset of the person. But for me, success is in the long game. Success is patience, waiting. I've seen many of my friends and classmates try to rush life. They want to do everything they possibly can as soon as they can, which is very understandable. Life is short, and for many people, racing through life at the speed of light is the way for them to go. But not for me! I want to take it slower. This does not mean I want to work less hard on the things I am trying to accomplish, it is quite the contrary. I just want to take my time on what I'm doing with my life so I know things are going well. I already have a college picked out, but selecting a career—and other things that come with entering the real world—does not have to be a quick process and keeping a patient mindset and leaving it in God's hands is pushing me towards success in life.

Some of my most wonderful gaming memories have been playing Nintendo Switch games with the people I'm closest with. Though, one of my ABSOLUTE favorites is Super Smash Bros. I love old and new Nintendo games alike, but nothing has really given me the true good times like this game has! I've spent hours memorizing how to play some of the characters (especially Marth, I main him!) just so I could get ahead of my friends. The competitive aspect has always been a big part for me and my best buds. One of my favorite memories of playing was when me and my little group of friends were getting extra creative about a game. Me and a couple of some of my best friends got together, I play Smash Bros with this friend group often and we always have a blast. This time was different in a special way, though! We decided to set up a tournament of sorts. Not one of the modes available in the game, though. We did normal stock matches, each of us fighting a random CPU. Just a 1v1! If you won that round, you got a point. If you lost the round, you didn't get a single thing. It was quite a simple premise, but it was so fun! We competed against each other for points, marking them on a piece of paper as we won (or lost) matches. From what I do remember, one of my friends, named Logan, was playing as Kirby, and the other, named Ian, was playing as Samus. I was using Corrin, which was typical for me at the time. And dang, Ian was good. Maybe Samus is just too good of a character, or Ian was just too good at the game. Her button charge shot was especially annoying. Not to me, of course. But I bet if the CPUs could think, they wouldn't be particularly happy about Ian's crazy playstyle. He ended up winning, naturally. I don't remember the exact score between all three of us, but he beat us by a long shot! That entire tournament was an absolute blast, even if Ian left us in the dust. We were a mix of supportive and competitive with each other. Sometimes we'd be cheering for the one playing, and other times we'd be cheering for the CPU (since we didn't want to lose!) By far, that's one of the best memories I've had playing Smash Bros. Anytime I remember that little tournament I feel the urge to pop the cartridge back into my switch and just binge play it for a few hours. It remains high on my top fighter game list, and #1 on my favorite Nintendo game list. It's something that never gets old for me!

Flashback to midsummer days in the early 2000s. Sitting in my dad's old Ford, listening to music together while driving down the highway. Artists like Coldplay, Muse, The Outfield, and many more. Those artists don't have much in common genre-wise, but they do have something in common. They connected me and my Dad. The music we spent minutes- even hours- listening to music strengthened our bond in an unexplainable way. Throughout high school, I've experienced music connecting people in similar ways. Band nerds, choir kids, musical theater fanatics, and even people who didn't consider doing extracurricular music activities becoming close simply due to how musical expression can bring people together. I'm currently in my high school's varsity show choir, and I also go to district/solo competitions with other students who choose to do so or are chosen to do so. These activities have helped me find friends and a community. I've built a strong support system through choir, meeting people that I can lean on for help in life outside of school and throughout life. It's helped me find other Christians interested in music, which is a blessing. I've even met and befriended people from other schools, despite rivalries between show choirs and such. Being involved in choir has also deepened my passion for contemporary music and my respect for the artists that painstakingly craft these pieces. I'm also very active in our school's theater department, and I've especially enjoyed doing musical theater. Once again, I have found a very loving community through doing musical theater. I've made wonderful friends, and now have memories that will last forever. Also, the ability to perform and sing on stage is very exhilarating. Telling a story through acting and singing and entertaining an audience will never be tiring for me, and doing musical theater in high school has made me even more appreciative of my gift to sing and act for others. I have also been recognized for my voice more by doing music extracurriculars through high school. As mentioned earlier, I have been picked to go to state for a solo in the past and gotten a silver, I've been picked to sing in all-district choir, and this year I'm planning on doing a solo and ensemble with a few students in my show choir. I know awards aren't everything. What is more important to me is being able to sing for others and entertain, and make friends through singing. However, being able to achieve these things is still very uplifting and has made me much more confident in my singing skills through high school. I've also met many other talented singers through these contests. From something as simple as listening to music with others to competing with others, and entertaining others... Music is something that connects people. That's what music has done for me throughout high school. I've made genuine, beautiful, human connections through music that will stick with me throughout my lifetime. I pray that even after high school, Music will continue to begin communities and friendships. Not only for me but for everyone on this planet.