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I grew up in Warrensburg, Mo and have lived their my entire life up until college. This town played a huge part in my world growing up. My dad was in the Air Force and flew the B-2, so I lived in a military community. Warrensburg is also a college town, as it is home to the University of Central Missouri. Warrensburg shaped me because it gave me a love for small towns, but also a love for the energetic college town feel.

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Throughout middle and high school, I never found reading enjoyable. I think this was because I felt forced to do it, and I didn't find any books I enjoyed to read. I was too stubborn to read what everyone else liked, such as the hunger games or divergent series. Looking back, if I gave them a chance I might have actually enjoyed them. In college, I have read 2 books recently. They are "The Hate U Give" by Angie Thomas and "People We Meet on Vacation" by Emily Henry. After reading them, I have started to enjoy reading and actually do it for fun.

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Tennis was my world of involvement in high school. This was the first sport I had ever played. This sport connected me to my peers who I had not previously been close friends with. This also introduced me to the athletics side of our high school. My world became having daily practices on top of dance, long bus rides with my friends, and trying to develop a more competitive side for myself. I am pictured above on the far left with my teammates from senior year.

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Growing up with a sister who has down syndrome impacted the words in my life. I remember learning basic sign language, as that is what my sister used when she struggled to communicate. Watching her speech therapy appointments every day after school gave me a new perspective on language. I understood that my sister struggled with communicating verbally at first, but this presented me with the multiple steps and processes it can take to develop verbal speech. Having a sister with a disability also impacted the way I viewed the world around me, as I learned to respect differences in others.

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Like most babies, my first sounds were cooing such as "ahh" and "ooh." My first words were "mama" "dada" "bye-bye" and "ruff ruff." According to the baby book my mom filled out for me, the first words I understood were "no" "bottle" and "juice."

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Ever since I was little, my family has had a boat and spent most of our summer weekends at the lake. This put me in a new environment, as the lake was an hour and a half away from home. This world gave me an appreciation for the outdoors. I still love relaxing and swimming in the waves to this day.

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Dance has been one of the biggest parts of my life, all the way from when I was 4ish to my senior year of highschool. I took ballet, tap, jazz, pointe, hip hop, musical theater, lyrical, and contemporary styles of dance. Dance was a huge factor in determining my words and worlds. I learned several french words in ballet, and heard a wide range of music from orchestra to hip hop and many others. Dance is where I found my best friends. Dance was my world because I spent most of my time outside of school at the studio, or at dance competitions on the weekends.

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A major way I consume words is by listening to the podcast True Crime Garage. This podcast covers a wide array of true crime cases ranging from missing persons to murderers. These podcasts are about an hour to hour and a half long and are often in multiple parts. I like to listen to them while during long car rides.

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Singing has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Growing up and singing hymns at church taught me many words, and to also be able to read at a decent speed in order to keep up with the song. Once I got to highschool, I joined concert chorale and show choir. Here, I sang more diverse types of music, including pieces in other languages. I also learned how to read music correctly.