“I think I was just motivated to. I still remember the exact moment that I was reading [my score] off because I was in my car with my brother. My brother was more excited than me. He was like ‘let’s go!’ I knew that an ACT score is really important when it comes to applying to colleges, and I had lofty goals of where I wanted to go to school. I knew that getting the right ACT score would really help me. I visited Stanford University a few years ago, and I thought that it was an amazing place. I really wanted to go there, but I unfortunately didn’t get in. Now I haven’t thought much about career wise. I’m majoring in computer engineering because I really like technology, and science and math. I like thinking of what technology can do to improve our lives. But I can’t say I really have a specific job in that field. 

When I’m by myself, I can be more pessimistic about the world. But I’d say when I’m a member of a group, I try to take a more optimistic role because I think that’s kind of the job of a leader– to be on the more positive side. With the leadership roles I’ve had in marching band, I feel like I needed to be more positive rather than authoritative. That’s the job of the director.”