I tried a lot of stuff when I first got to NMH. I was in Concert Band; I went to a few meetings for The Bridge; I was in all these different clubs. I was like, okay, I don’t really know how to make friends, so I’m going to try all these options. Then I took a beginning jazz dance class, and I tried out for Dance Company and got understudy. The next year I made company. Through dance I met people who are some of my best friends, so doing that really helped me adjust.

I used to live in Arizona, but my family moved to Massachusetts so I could be a day student at NMH. It was either that or go to an all-girls Catholic school in Los Angeles where my grandma went. Talk about two different life choices! I love being a day student—I think it’s the best of both worlds. There’s school, and then there’s my house in the woods where I can play with my brother and sleep in my room that I don’t have to share with anyone.

I recently realized music is what I want to do with my life.  In eighth grade I picked up my mom’s guitar and taught myself a few chords, and suddenly I started writing tons of songs. My songs are about relationships, or the lack thereof. My mom always says, “You should really write about other stuff.” I’m like, “Nah—I don’t know how.” I’ve gone from playing at open mics at NMH to playing at local coffeehouses and music festivals. Right now I’m working on a record. I really want to become a full-time musician.

While music is my life, math is this really cool thing I like to do in the classroom. I see a lot of similarities between math and music: they’re both universal languages and kind of cosmic and amazing, but then you plug something in and there’s one answer. I took AP Calculus this year, and next year I’m taking Multivariable Calculus and AP Statistics.

In terms of college, I want to go to Smith so badly. I plan to apply early decision. When I visited campus, they talked a lot about their math and science program, and I got to speak with a math professor. I went from being, “Oh, this is a cool school,” to “Oh, my God, I love it so much!” So I’ve got a one-track mind right now.