Last year I was a senior at Mountain View High School in Freestyle Academy studying film. All three of my older sisters also studied film at Freestyle. My twin brother Sam is the only sibling who was never in Freestyle. I also played on Mountain View’s football and lacrosse teams, and I played trombone in Mountain View’s wind ensemble. Outside of school, I studied classical guitar and attended weekly meetings with my church’s youth group.
I chose to be in Freestyle because I have a deep appreciation for art of all types and a curiosity to learn new skills. My core values are God, my family, and my community. I hoped to learn new ways to express myself through Freestyle. I hoped these skills would help me in my future career and would allow me to make a change in the world for the better.
Being in Freestyle Academy has allowed me to grow as a student, an artist, and as a person. Freestyle is full of extremely talented and driven people from a wide range of backgrounds. I am grateful for the opportunity that I had to spend this year with these amazing students. Working with them and learning about their interests and passions has introduced me to a whole new world of creativity. I also have made a lot of unforeseen friendships with my peers. Freestyle’s teachers are amazing. They really teach and care an awful lot about their students. The teachers are compassionate but also really push students to develop their talents. Freestyle has prepared me for real life in ways that the normal high school experience had not done. Projects in Freestyle are often really big and allow a lot of freedom to be creative. This was initially a struggle for me, but as the year has gone on, my skills at setting my own goals and activating my creativity have improved. I highly recommend attending Freestyle Academy to next year’s juniors and seniors.