Honestly, when I think about it, I really can’t remember a time when I wasn’t doing gymnastics. In fact I’ve probably spent more time in a gym than anywhere else. And while that’s likely the case for most competitive gymnasts, when your mom is the gym owner…living at the gym is just a way of life.

You see when I was three years old my mom made this crazy leap of faith and opened a gymnastics academy in our hometown. My older sister’s gym had gone out of business and rather than commute an hour away, my mom decided “why not”. She leased a building, bought equipment, hired a couple of coaches and voila’…Inland Empire Gymnastics Academy was born and my 15 year relationship with vault, bars, beam and floor began.

I think I originally did gymnastics because we “lived” at the gym and that’s what everyone else was doing. If you ask my mom, initially I just “played” at the sport. I had fun in classes during the week and on the weekends I watched my sister compete. And while my mom never pushed gymnastics on me, as I got older I just naturally followed in my sister’s footsteps and took the competitive path as well. While I certainly enjoyed gymnastics and the friendships I made through it, it really wasn’t until middle school and my sister leaving for college, that I truly began to claim this sport as my own and chart my own journey. Today, when I look back at how far I have come, I am honestly astounded. I never would have thought I’d be where I am, but knowing how far I have come makes me extremely excited for what might come next, and perhaps that will include collegiate gymnastics.

My life outside of the gym is primarily consumed by academics. I am an International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Candidate at my high school and I work extremely hard to balance the demands of the classroom along with 20+ hours a week in the gym. While not an easy task, I am grateful for those non-gymnastics skills that this sport, my coaches and my gym have imparted to me. Discipline, a strong work ethic, organization, perseverance and excellent time management have thus far enable me to be successful in both worlds, and I know these attributes will continue to serve me well as I move from high school into college.

While there is not much time after the academics and gymnastics, I have been extremely fortunate this past three years to be involved in my school’s Best Buddies program. I absolutely love working with, and on behalf of, students at my school with intellectual, development and physical disabilities. Helping to build friendships between students with and without disabilities, as well as working to create an inclusive environment on our school campus, is so incredibly rewarding and I am grateful for the opportunity it gives me every week to invest myself in helping make a difference in other peoples lives.