As a very young child, I had little recollection of my life. One of the few things I do remember vividly was taking ballet class at my local arts center. I remember the fun I had just moving around, doing turns in my little pink skirt. However, my mother had other aspirations for me. She signed me up for violin classes, which I ended up hating. I begged her to sign me up again for dance, but she never did. When I was around ten, I discovered a show called World of Dance. I was amazed at how many different styles of dance there were. I was particularly impressed with how young some of the dancers were. It made me think about how good I could have been if I had the opportunity to stick with dance. I felt I was too old to start taking dance again because of my lack of skill for my age. I remember in my living room I would attempt leaps, turns, and pretend that I was in ballet class. I would ask my friends who took dance to teach me the basics every chance I got. Now, as a rising junior in high school, I have been taking dance as an elective, am in our schools Asian-American club (which performs traditional and modern Asian dances), and plan to try out this fall for the varsity poms team. I've been told by many people in the dance community I have amazing potential for someone who's never taken a serious pre-professional dance class. Dance is known to be a great way to keep your aid stress and improve confidence, both of which I have struggled with since I can remember. However, these past two years alone taking dance at school have allowed me to find an incredibly loving community of friends with similar interests who are supportive and people I want to keep in my circle for a very long time. Looking towards my future, in college I aim to minor in the arts, preferably in dance. I hope to become a role model for my younger sisters, as they already look up to me. Most importantly, I want to do this for myself to make my younger self content and proud. As a Latina, we don't see many professional dancers on social media, online, or on television who are like us. One day I hope to grow some sort of social media page where I upload videos teaching or showing myself dancing, embracing my culture as well. Knowing that I could inspire a little girl the same way I was many years ago would be extremely fulfilling.