As I continued into high school, my interest in school began to decrease as I become preoccupied with friends and boys in grades 8 and 9. I have always been a people-pleaser, so I did what I could to fit in with the crowd in my early high school years. As a result, my grades suffered slightly. Fortunately, I was able to regain interest in school and become more confident in my own identity as I progressed into the later secondary years.

Generally, school came naturally to me. The area in which I was strongest was always English, specifically writing, which my teachers took note of and encouraged me in many ways. In addition to being successful in my English classrooms, I did decently well in the sciences (primarily in grades 8, 9, and 10). As a result of my average success level and a newfound interest in health and fitness, I decided I wanted to pursue a career in kinesiology. I had high aspirations of being a physiotherapist or a fitness coach for a professional sports team. However, although the junior level sciences came naturally to me, classes like chemistry and calculus did not. My teachers helped me as much as they could, but in the end, my grades weren’t what they needed to be to be admitted into the kinesiology program at the University of British Columbia.

From the time I was young, I think my teachers and parents alike could tell that I was incredibly strong in the Arts and had a special ability to care for and nurture children. Looking back, I appreciate the way my teachers and my parents supported my dreams, even if they did not seem to line up with who I am as an individual.

I graduated high school in June 2013. I had been accepted into UBC in the program that I listed as my “second choice,” figuring that it would eventually lead me into the kinesiology program, and had the opportunity to travel to Ecuador for two weeks the following month. Because of my nurturing nature, it was heartbreaking to see some of the children we were working with in remote locations in the jungle in Ecuador.