Three Things To Celebrate-

Passion/ Music:
Upon a falling star, a rising yellow sun, passion is who we are, and Music is who Ive
become. (Opening statement) In honesty I have grown most in passion. If you all
havent figured it out by now, I live and breath music. 3-4 Hours a day of practice, music
lessons for 3 instruments with one of them being my voice, being in two bands, writing
two eps and two albums, and trying my hardest to keep up with academics through it
all. Without coming off presumptuous, I am multi talented. Something many musicians
envy, is having an ear. For those of you that dont know, having an ear is like having a
natural mindset/ understanding of music, with no training Its just there. Due to this, I
have grown to love music so much. An example of my growth is playing the Piano. I
started playing last March and by november this year I was playing complex in rhythm
Jazz songs, ad libbing and applying my own chord structures to songs like Tears in
Heaven from Eric Clapton, and composing my own pieces on the piano, then writing
lyrics, drum pieces, and bass pieces to accompany them. Specifically, here I have a
verse from one of my songs on my bands acoustic EP and our album.

With my feet up off the ground,

and my slow like burning sounds,
and the rain us falling hard enough to float me all around,
and the stars are oh so bright, such a death defying sight,
while Im sipping on the ocean of a thousand years of life,
and these flowers blooming here, are a symbol of my years, a revival to my tears,
so please stay with me my dear,
rowing gently underwater, comes across puddles of fear,
and these topless mountains falling, are coming very near,
Forever Ill be waiting here.

Coming to Animas:
Animas High School, the Ospreys, project based learning, all things I was
frightened of at first, all things that make my life easier now. At DHS I had a horrible
time, and not because my grades were bad or anything like that, it was more over just
who I am and why DHS/ public school didnt work for me as a whole. For starters, being
someone that deals with a lot of social anxiety, 1200 kids or so was not a good time. I
felt quite singled out at DHS and I am a confident person. Otherwise the academics at
DHS are your standard government influenced curriculum. Lots and lots of busy work,
tons of lecturing, and plenty of unengaging topics. Besides all of that, the hardest part of
being at DHS was the constant trial of keeping up, and I am speaking in terms of in
class with the other students. Every single day, I almost felt a sense of failure because
other kids move so much faster in assignments, tests, reading, and anything else I had
to keep up with. Almost 7 and a half years of being separated from the rest of the class
to take test and work on stuff because I couldnt finish as fast as them. Not only did this
affect my self esteem, it made me hate school. Since I am tested to essentially be
smarter than my sister, who has finished each year of highschool with a 4.6 GPA, I
shouldnt hate school. I want it to be positive. And it just so happens, switching to
Animas has changed a large majority of that. Animas for one has a concrete
community, every school needs that. Without community, we lack of self security, and
without self security, we suffer the broad pain of having something missing. Not only
does Animas benefit me on a level of excellent community, Project based learning is
statistically beneficial to ADHD kids, and more arts based kids like myself.

Snowboarding:
Other than music, I have been a passionate traveling competing snowboarder for
the last six years. Each year I have qualified to Nationals and the two seasons before
last I qualified to rev tour as well. I have always been in the top 10 for racing in the
country upon my age group, and top 20 for Slopestyle (freestyle). Each year gets harder
and harder, in fact last year the amount of kids I had in my two most important
competitions at nationals, boarder cross and slopestyle, was about 300 kids. As it gets
more and more stressful over the years it also gets more and more dangerous. For
example, as soon as you compete in the 14-15 age group, you move to the big park,
and you have probably seen the big park at Purgatory and such, but Im talking about
the biggest jumps Copper Mtn. has. Copper Mtn. is a world renown ski resort for their
terrain parks due to Woodward. Last year, on my first run of my very first competition at
Nationals for the week, I went off the last jump (75 kicker) and get caught in a rut
coming off of the jump, which through me inverted, and made me drift in the wrong
direction. Rather than inverting on accident and clearing the jump and sliding out, I
drifted sideways and landed on the flat. If you dont know a 75 kicker, think of the X
games jumps. I fell 35-45 feet in descent, was going around 60 MPH, and drifted a solid
20 and landed the wrong way on flat. After spending the rest of my day in the hospital
getting x-rays and anxiously waiting to see if I broke my ankle or back, I miraculously
did not have any breaks. However I still was not cleared to snowboard, and could not
walk. Today, I am out snowboarding every weekend and continuing to learn and throw
bigger tricks and hit bigger jumps. Snowboarding has taught me a lot. Coming back this
semester and getting back on snow after that has taught me a lot. It takes courage and
guts but it also takes heart and passion, just like music.

2 Growths-
Life Appreciation: In regards to bettering myself, I would like to appreciate the idea of
simple life more than I have and more than my generation does. So far I have done this
by deleting all social media platforms. Although social media can have an artistic value
to it, which I enjoy, its absolutely dreadful in my opinion. Spending each day enjoying
what we have in little Durango, and what I can find if I wander into the forest is
something I have grown to enjoy, but am looking to enjoy as a given. I want to grow my
appreciation as a whole, but specifically in regards to life and what we have within the
simplest idea of life.

Being on top of it: To grow over the next semester, I want to be more on top of things,
and not just with schoolwork but in general. Whether its with turning stuff in on time
more often, or just being more organized at home it is something I believe I could do
better at. First off, being organized at home and in school instantly relieves stress/
anxiety. This is because when you are organized and on top of things all the way
around, it gives you more time to enjoy your day and do the things you want, which
implicates a more balanced life. That my friends, is science. I will do this by getting a
white board and a calendar and making a steady schedule that lets me get everything
done and still have at least 3 hours to play music/ write music. Being balanced with my
school work, and my passion is key to making each day more enjoyable.

One Question to Ponder-

If everyone was to apply myt two areas for growth to their life, would
the world be a better place?