At the age of nine, my mother and I left Venezuela to meet my father in the United States after not seeing

him for six years. Leaving my grandmother was the hardest decision I had done at a young age, but I was thrilled to meet new eo le, embrace a new culture and start fresh as a family. A wee! after we settled in our new home, my father too! my mom and I to a church he had been singing at for years, I got to see a whole new side of him that I never !new"singing and laying the guitar. #very Saturday I would watch him sing and lay as if I were watching a su er star. $rom then on, I discovered my assion for singing and erforming in front of an audience and soon began to write songs that described my thoughts and emotions. %ver the years, I have learned a lot about music through my father and school and also have had ex eriences on stage in school and locally, which gave me the courage to ursue a career in music erformance. &erforming in front of an audience can at times be scary yet thrilling. 'he butterflies one gets when it(s almost time for the curtains the rise is worse than going down on a roller coaster) but nothing beats the feeling of a standing ovation or the long and loud cla of the audience ma!e after finishing a iece, meaning you did outstanding. In the *usic V&A+Visual &erforming Arts, de artment at -oo!er .igh School, I got the chance to learn the written and oral theory of music,learned and layed the basics of the iano, and I also erformed on stage with the choir or as a soloist. -eing a music erformer is not only about intonation or ex ression, it(s also about interacting with the audience and ma!ing them feel art of what you(re trying to communicate through the song. A erformance I will never forget is /Pops and Jazz0 a show were I got to show my side of acting, singing and dancing. In every song I sang, I involved the audience to ma!e them feel as if they were inter reting the iece along with me,along with community talent show in the .is anic $estival /Nace una estrella0+ a rising star,. 'hese erformances are the reason why I decided to 1oin a musical theater class in college because they offered everything I was loo!ing for as a erformer) acting, singing, dancing and interaction with the audience. In music, I have also found the interest in learning new cultures through signing in different languages such as #nglish,S anish,Serbian and &ortuguese. *y short term goals are to finish college with a degree in music erformance and be able to erform in front of many eo le, and ins ire others to follow their dreams and ins irations. In ten years from now, I ho e to have settled in my career, also teaching others about music theory and hel ing them en1oy music the same way my teachers have thought me.