“I am a big band kid. I’ve done music for my entire life. I mean, my aunt taught me to sing at the age of two and a half. So I’ve been singing since then. So music has always been a big part of my life. So then when I picked up an instrument in sixth grade, it just kind of clicked. I Became a section leader my sophomore year, after a really great guidance from 2 seniors, that are in Illinois now. They were really great. So I became a section leader with one of my best friends, Eliana. I really liked it because I got to do the thing I loved so much, I got to help out with and make it matter more to people. And I got to build on it because my section ended becoming the largest one of all of them (Trumpets). It felt really great to be a part of something so big and so precious, and it was really great. I have a bunch of kiddos that really seek home and help in this place, and through me, and I always love bringing that positivity and that safe space for them. So that’s really wonderful. And now that I’m a senior, I’m on the third year reign of section leader with different partners each year. I love it even more every year and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. I lead the trumpet section, and all of them from Pep Band and Marching Band, Jazz, and Wind Ensemble. I’ve passed that music a lot and deal with more shenanigans every year. I think that with certain people, I’m a friend, and others, I’m a mother. I definitely am a motherly person. I like to say ‘it’s the mother in me,’ a lot. For some of my Kiddos I’m definitely more of a parental figure, of like, ‘I don’t have anyone else to lean on, so let me lean on you.’ But then others, I’m very much a friend that they’re like, ‘dude, guess what I just did?’ I would say [one piece of advice], believing in yourself and that you matter in more ways than you can think. There will always be at least one person that wants you around and thinks about you each day. You are called in so many ways, even if you think you aren’t.”