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In 4th grade I started to play an instrument. When my older siblings were in 4th grade they did so I thought I should as well. I decided to play the trumpet, simply because I thought it was cool. Unlike them, however, music was something that would stick with me for much longer. I stuck with it not only through high school, but am also still doing it in college. I have been in both my high school's marching band and now High Point's marching band. The experience that come from music and performing would also help foster a new passion later in my life.

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Quitting Something I Didn't Want to Do - 2015

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Quitting Something I Didn't Want to Do - 2015

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For most of my life I did similar things to my older siblings because I thought that's what I was supposed to do. They played sports when they were young, so I did too. They even both played instruments when they were younger. For a long time I just kept doing things that they did because I thought that's what was expected of me, even if I didn't want to or I wasn't good at what I was doing. Towards the end of 5th grade I had a particularly bad experience playing baseball. I didn't want to keep doing it, I wasn't all that good at it, and I definitely was not having fun. Although I didn't think it was an option at first, I quit because I didn't really want to do it anymore and wanted to focus on things that I truly enjoyed from that point on.

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When I was in 7th grade my sister was friends with someone who just so happened to have a brother the same age as me named Collin. This led her to trying to make the two of us become friends. At first it was kind of rocky because it was a little forced and we were both kind of awkward. However, this would eventually turn into a unorthodox but incredibly valuable friendship. While we had a couple of big shared interests like music and eventually theatre, our personalities could not be more different. Our differences would lead to us annoying each other beyond belief, to the point where our friends would question our friendship multiple times. Even though we would get on each other's nerves, we just understood each other and connected in a way that other people couldn't. For a while I always felt kind of lonely and that I didn't have a lot of friends, but I always had him. Having someone you can trust and always rely on when doing anything was a great feeling to have.

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In my freshman year of high school I auditioned for my school's play for the first time. I had never acted before then was a pretty shy person. However, this is something I wanted to try so I gave it a shot. My experiences with theatre helped to make me a more open person and confident person. Although I wouldn't call myself outgoing, I do feel more comfortable being myself and going in front of others.

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Going into my Junior year of high school my school was getting a new theatre teacher. Little did I know this would be one of the most helpful people I would meet in my life, Mr. Patteson. I was still new at acting when it came time to audition for the play and was up against some pretty talented people. However, he still saw potential in me and gave me a chance. In only my third show, he casted me in my first major role and would continue to be one of the most influential figures in my life. I still keep in touch with him, ask for his help and keep him updated how theatre at college is going.

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Later in my Junior year of high school it became time to audition for the school's musical. I was not confident in my singing abilities as had not sang a lot at that point and hadn't been in a musical yet. To add onto this I was already in another show at the time so I used that as an excuse to almost not audition. On the last day before auditions I changed my mind and did the right thing which was to audition. I got in the show and realized that if I really wanted to do something, I shouldn't be afraid of not being good enough. This was also a big moment of realization about what I was actually passionate about. Acting was something I loved and didn't want to give up. If I was fully committed as I should have I wouldn't need to be afraid of not being good enough again and could trust that the effort I put in would make a difference.