Chandni+Shroff

Script: My life has been full of constant ups and downs, unforeseeable problems, and unexpected happiness. Letting go of the past has been one of the hardest, yet most rewarding lessons I have learned. One of the most significant impacts in my life has been gymnastics. Up until last year, if you would have come up to me and said, “Define your life in one word” I would have looked at you and simply said, “Gymnastics.” Every since the age of 3, I’ve been in love with the sport. The risks that come along with it only drew me more towards it. Starting freshman year, I was on two different teams: The Varsity one at Green hope, and a competitive club that I balanced alongside it. This pattern continued through Junior year. I was averaging anywhere from 16-22 hours at the gym a week, spending more time with my coaches and teammates than I did with my family. The gym was my home away from home, the team was my second family. However, as you probably know by now, all good things don’t last. Junior year, my gymnastics career slowly careened downwards. Swamped with hard classes, I didn’t have the energy to attain to my previous abilities, and pushed even harder than before due to higher levels and my coaches, I eventually lost sight of why I performed the sport in the first place. Better yet, 3 days before the biggest competition of my career, I fractured my tibeal plateau in my knee. I was pretty pissed off, but I ended up competing at States with the half-healed knee 4 weeks after, nicely rounding off my career in the sport. I still compete on the Varsity team, and I’ve let go of what I used to think the definition of my existence was. I miss it a lot, but I know I’ve made the right choice. With all the newfound free time I had, I decided to try out for the Varsity Cheerleading Team. As a newbie who had never even picked up a pom-pom in her life, I was a little nervous about taking it on. Through the help of teammates, I’ve gotten to be a pretty good cheerleader, and I’ve definitely enjoyed doing it this year. Extracurricular activities pretty much dominated my high school career. I wasn’t part of many clubs because of gymnastics, but I started my own club this year to raise money for disaster victims. So far, we’ve donated $425 to the NRC. Another activity I’ve participated in since freshman year is dance. I signed up for Modern 1 my freshman year, thinking it would be a nice way to balance out some harder classes in my schedule. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed the class and have ended up taking 5 dance classes here at Green Hope. Art has played another major role in my life, half my family being artists. I haven’t taken any formal art classes here at school, but learned from my mother and aunt. I won 3rd place in wake county for a painting I did my sophomore year, and I hope to continue drawing and painting as much as I can. I wouldn’t be who I am today without my friends and family. They’ve all motivated me so much when I felt like giving up, and they have shaped me into the individual I am today. I’ve made lots of mistakes in my life, but I couldn’t be more content with myself than I am now. I look forward to college, but at the same time, don’t want to let go and move on. But life is all about choices, changes and chances. You’ve got to make a choice to take a chance or your life will never change.

[]