Age: 15

1. When and how did you get started practicing your art form?
   When I was 7 my family had just come home from Victoria island, I was tired, sick, and I just wanted to eat something and luckily while we were driving, I spotted a pastry shop right off the highway. I begged my mom to stop, and probably emptily promised her I’d to wash the dishes for a week, I’m sure she would’ve said yes if my grandma and motion-sick grandpa wasn’t in the car. So, we drove on, probably to the ear-splitting soundtrack of my bawling. I remember vividly staring out the window angrily, as if that would’ve done something. By the time we got home I’d dug up a pen and paper, still salty from my pastry-less stomach, and wrote a poem. It was 5-6 lines and included “my sadness reaches the bottom of the ocean” which was pretty deep for a poem about bread written by a 7-year-old. My mom showed it to all her work friends and eventually I got my pastry, but it was then, I think, I realized that my writing could affect people.
2. How does winning this scholarship help you achieve your goals?
   As I say later in this questionnaire, I am very self conscious and tend to not want to put myself out there. This has been my main struggle for a few years now, and having been rejected by both places I sent my writing to – I’m not exactly giving myself any medals. But I recently watched Hamilton, met a new writing teacher, and now – won this scholarship, I will definitely work harder to improve my writing and submit more pieces. I’d quote Hamilton but I think I’d risk losing the scholarship if I did.
   
3. How has your teacher helped you achieve your goals?
   I am very good at second guessing myself; it’s one of my most fleshed-out talents. My writing teacher however, is very confident in her writing and encourages me to be the same about mine, she is one of the few teachers I’ve had that truly pushes me to publish or share my writing. She also helped grow my ability to establish place in writing.
4. Share a story about your time at Place des Arts. It can be about an inspiring moment, an impactful relationship or your fondest memory.
   Since I was five years old, I’ve always had this one writing teacher, she is very dear to me and she is part of who I am today. Though recently she’s took a break from teaching to raise her child, and my classes were taught by a stranger. They didn’t feel the same, emptier, I even considered leaving place des arts. I was moping one day, dreading going to class when I realized I was being a stubborn asshole. Who was I to just decide that I didn’t like this new woman because she wasn’t the same as my old teacher? I began to open myself up and listen more tentatively, and I found that she was an amazing, experienced, and hilarious person. She’s been a great inspiration, and I think we really connected in the end.
   
5. Who is your role model and why?
   The last two times I filled this out, I wrote a persons name down that I look up to or admire. After looking at the those that I wrote down previous years I come to realize that I look up to those people, but I don’t model my life after them. I admire them but I don’t aspire to be them. My aspirations are reserved for those in sitcoms, Eleanor and Chidi’s eventual happiness in “the Good Place”, the true friendship in “Brooklyn 99”, where I learnt how much your family loves you and what I watch every time I’m sick “Modern Family”, the complete motivation and drive Leslie Knope holds in “Parks and Recreation”, and the undying love of Fitz and Simmons in “Agents of Shield”. These shows are who I am, they are what I go to when I feel lost, sick, or happy. They have everything I aspire to have.