Arts education meant everything to me as a kid, and absolutely pushed me to be the performer and person I am today. I have always been involved in the arts, and the education that I received was a strong reason why I kept going with it for so long. I have been singing and dancing for as long as I can remember, and I started my acting career and education in high school. I had one standout teacher in each aspect of the arts that I pursued that pushed me to keep going. A standout teacher of mine was my elementary school music teacher, Mr. J. Mr. J was how I learned about my love for music in the first place. I had always loved to sing, but I didn’t necessarily know how to put that to use. He then introduced me to the elementary school choir. I loved it! It taught me how much I loved performing, and showed me how singing can be applied to extracurriculars, and even into a possible career! This teacher was truly amazing to not just me, but everyone. He took time out of his day to personally organize and fund the elementary choir, as well as a marching band. He also gave private music lessons for those interested in music outside of class, which I absolutely utilized. He was an amazing role model for me, and he taught me that music could be made into a career, and that my passion for music never had to stop once I grew up. While I was dancing, my favorite teacher was Ms. Julia. Ms. Julia was my teacher for as long as I could remember. She saw me grow up, and she helped me become the dancer I am today. She has heard me cry to her multiple times about how I’m not ‘good enough’, and she always knew exactly what to say to keep me motivated. Something she always told me in my worst moments was that having a weakness meant that I also had a strength. In those low moments, that helped me to remember my self worth. Because of her, I have continued to pursue dance through the thick and thin, and she has pushed me to know my self worth as not just a dancer, but as a person. While these other teachers meant the world to me, the one that helped me to figure out that musical theater was the career path for me was Mrs. P. Mrs. P was my high school theater teacher and the director of all of our shows. She saw the passion in me and had heard me talking about my love for singing, dancing, and acting, so one day she pulled me into her office. She explained that she could really see me achieving a lot with musical theater as my career, and that meant a lot to me. That is something that I carry with me in my lowest moments. She still will reach out to me and ask me how I’m doing in college and ask for videos of all my performances. The amount of care that she put into my career means the world to me, and it’s something that has had a very lasting impact on me. The teachers that I have had within the arts have made it possible for me to stay motivated and passionate about the arts. The impact that each of these teachers have had on me individually have proven how truly special performing arts teachers are, and they have pushed me to be better.

As a child, I always said I wanted to be a pop star. I loved to sing, dance, and most of all, I loved being the center of attention. This career path that I wanted to pursue made complete sense. I have been in dance lessons since I was about two years old, and dance has been a big part of my life ever since then. As a kid, I did the typical styles, ballet and tap. Eventually, I loved dance so much that I wanted to expand. I ended up moving forward and pursuing classes in lyrical, jazz, and even hip hop. I was dancing about five days a week for two-three hours a night up until I was about thirteen years old. When I was thirteen, it was decided that I was ready for pointe shoes. I was so excited, but I quickly realized that pointe wasn’t for me. That started a downward spiral where I decided that I didn’t want to dance anymore, it was becoming too much. I still wanted to dance, but I hated how much of my time I was putting into it, as I had other pursuits I wanted to try. One of those pursuits was singing. I have been singing since I could talk, and once I joined my elementary school choir in kindergarten, I never wanted to stop. This pushed me to do voice lessons on top of choir. I loved it! I ended up having to stop voice lessons because of dance, but I still did choir up until freshman year of high school. I ended up leaving choir because I loved to sing, but I didn’t love how stagnant I was while I was doing it. I hated that I had to just stand still and I felt like it was really hard for me to convey a message with my singing like I wanted to. I was really stuck at this moment. I still wanted to both sing and dance, but I had grown tired of the ways that I had been doing it. This is why I turned to theater. I found that it was the perfect way for me to combine my interests into one art form. Once I started doing musical theater, it never stopped. I joined it for the singing and dancing, but I actually ended up finding that I loved acting as well! I started acting lessons and re-started voice lessons, along with private dance lessons once a week. All of this happened on top of rehearsals for musicals and plays that I had been cast in, as well as constant auditions. I had found my career path. With this newfound love for musical theater, I decided that I wanted to give it a shot professionally as a career. It is well known that actors don’t necessarily always ‘make it’, but I wanted to give it my best shot. Hence, I am currently a second semester freshman at the University of Colorado, Boulder with a major in Musical Theater. So, long story short, I have wanted to be a performer for as long as I can remember. While my career may not be a pop star like I previously thought, my core interests never changed.