Tell about activities and/or sports you participated in during school

I was very active in all the choirs and bands at both of the high schools that I attended.

In California I was in concert band and marching band. I played the flute for concert band and marched with the clarinet. We competed a lot and won a lot of those competitions. We were invited to march in lots of parades. My parents went to most of these things. It did not bother me that they came, in fact, it was fun to know that they cared enough about what I was doing to want to be there. We not only competed in parades but half time shows as well. In one such event I was to be the counter. We were squads and one person was assigned to count the steps in between the lines on the football field. We had a map of sorts and you count off and then tell the squad to turn right or left and continue on like this. I remember noticing at one point that my squad was clear at the other end of the field. We had turned left instead of right and visa versa several times. I was so embarrassed. I was never asked to be the counter again. (side note: I have never been good at directions - obviously I did not become aware of this until it was to late) When we moved to Oregon things were different. There was not the competing that I was used to. We marched for half time shows at the football games but that was it. Our concert band was very serious. I had a lot of friends in this class. Band was fun but I liked the choirs better.

My high school in Oregon offered a lot of different types of choir classes. I was involved with almost all of them. I not only sang but played the piano for several of the choirs. I really learned the most from our choir teacher Mr. Pool. He was a character and I looked up to him and his sage wisdom. He was one of the only teachers I can recall that cared more about the students than the teaching. He was a great teacher though and shared his musical talents with all of us. I learned life lessons from him though and that has helped me with many many other things I have been involved with over the years. I remember one time that I sang a solo at one of the concerts. I was not used to this at all. My sister Melissa was the singer in our family and she usually had that spotlight. I was very used to being behind the piano. I was very nervous but she helped me learn my part and I worked hard on it. I remember I did not tell my parents. I wanted to surprise them and I think they were surprised. I also remember I did not do to bad, although I know everyone probably could tell I was nervous. My senior year of high school I think I had five music classes and a history class that was required. I loved my senior year.

I did not play sports on organized teams. I did like basketball and volleyball and field hockey in gym class but it was not as popular for girls to play sports the way girls get to now. I think I felt to self conscious to play on a team so opted to only play during gym class and kept my talents in the classroom of music.