My journey with sound waves began in a church basement, where at the end of each session, my teacher would put his guitar on the ground and let me bang on it. I begged my parents for a guitar and soon after, began Suzuki Classical Guitar lessons. In first grade, I joined a studio and there I discovered Jazz. Initially, the anxiety of performing was petrifying, but with practice came the ability to identify and overcome my amygdala’s response. Sometimes while bored in math class, I caused chaos by utilizing idle time to launch pencils at the ceiling, attempting to get them to stick. A tall math teacher, tired of being struck in the forehead as he walked the room, moved me into my school’s advanced math program. It was in the advanced program I grew to love math. This continued as I discovered physics and engineering. These fields took the already exciting world of math and expanded it into real-world applications. Math is similar to music in its defined patterns and sequences, which once understood, are comfortingly constant. In my future as an astrophysicist, I plan to apply those constants and my understanding of musical waveforms to the unknown elements of space exploration. The discipline that I learned in music and practiced in math have allowed me to thrive as a pugilist. The process of perfecting various boxing techniques taught me the importance of strategy, and countless hours in the ring gave me the conditioning and reflexes of a fighter. In boxing, getting knocked down is expected, but so is persevering to get back up. In the summer of 2021, I was sexually assaulted. After initially disassociating, musical performance experience allowed me to regain presence of mind. The problem-solving skills of math permitted me to ignore emotion and formulate a plan. The confidence and physical stamina gained from boxing empowered me to fight back and ultimately fight off my attacker. I appreciate that escaping my attacker was the result of my training and understand that not all women are so fortunate as to have self-defense knowledge. As a part of my recovery from this trauma, I have been committed to making self-defense accessible to more women. I am developing a program to teach young women self-defense on the Pine Ridge and Dine Navajo indigenous reservations. Classical guitar is the repetition of simple movements to achieve perfection, so that when performing, a musician can allow the music to flow naturally, while jazz guitar is the understanding of music theory spontaneously applied to multiple unpredictable variables. Mathematics is about understanding and applying rules to solve problems, while boxing is a mélange of strategic poise and inner discipline. To be a wave whose ripples embody the harmony in navigating obstacles with the ease and rhythm of music, the discipline and rules of mathematics, and the strategy, courage and stamina of boxing, that is my aspiration.

My journey with sound waves began in a church basement, where at the end of each session, my teacher would put his guitar on the ground and let me bang on it. I begged my parents for a guitar and soon after, began Suzuki Classical Guitar lessons. In first grade, I joined a studio and there I discovered Jazz. Initially, the anxiety of performing was petrifying, but with practice came the ability to identify and overcome my amygdala’s response. Sometimes while bored in math class, I caused chaos by utilizing idle time to launch pencils at the ceiling, attempting to get them to stick. A tall math teacher, tired of being struck in the forehead as he walked the room, moved me into my school’s advanced math program. It was in the advanced program I grew to love math. This continued as I discovered physics and engineering. These fields took the already exciting world of math and expanded it into real-world applications. Math is similar to music in its defined patterns and sequences, which once understood, are comfortingly constant. In my future as an astrophysicist, I plan to apply those constants and my understanding of musical waveforms to the unknown elements of space exploration. The discipline that I learned in music and practiced in math have allowed me to thrive as a pugilist. The process of perfecting various boxing techniques taught me the importance of strategy, and countless hours in the ring gave me the conditioning and reflexes of a fighter. In boxing, getting knocked down is expected, but so is persevering to get back up. In the summer of 2021, I was sexually assaulted. After initially disassociating, musical performance experience allowed me to regain presence of mind. The problem-solving skills of math permitted me to ignore emotion and formulate a plan. The confidence and physical stamina gained from boxing empowered me to fight back and ultimately fight off my attacker. I appreciate that escaping my attacker was the result of my training and understand that not all women are so fortunate as to have self-defense knowledge. As a part of my recovery from this trauma, I have been committed to making self-defense accessible to more women. I am developing a program to teach young women self-defense on the Pine Ridge and Dine Navajo indigenous reservations. Classical guitar is the repetition of simple movements to achieve perfection, so that when performing, a musician can allow the music to flow naturally, while jazz guitar is the understanding of music theory spontaneously applied to multiple unpredictable variables. Mathematics is about understanding and applying rules to solve problems, while boxing is a mélange of strategic poise and inner discipline. To be a wave whose ripples embody the harmony in navigating obstacles with the ease and rhythm of music, the discipline and rules of mathematics, and the strategy, courage and stamina of boxing, that is my aspiration.