 Coming to Purdue I was thinking I need to join something that will keep me active So I wanted to join a club that would keep me moving, but in a fun way So I was looking at all the different like archery rug be Ultimate Frisbee and then the Latin and ballroom dance team What brought me to Purdue was a balance of I didn't know what I wanted to do and Through my research. I knew Purdue could set me up for it They also had a great program for undecided and exploratory majors, which is what I originally went into because I was uncertain There's a whole variety of careers, and I had no idea which one to pick out of all of them So I came to Purdue and then going into the exploratory program I kept coming up with business again and again, and I was like Why am I not going into business and then I reevaluated that I decided it fits with me It fits with my personality the way I think so why not do it? Prior to coming to Purdue. I didn't have too much of a background in dance. I was in a ballet But it hadn't really done dance in about seven or eight years So as a competitive team it really played on my analytics personality and how I was thinking and processing everything You're analyzing exactly your hip angles your ribcage angles how your knee is moving It's very analytical when you really get into the details of it But it's different for my schoolwork. It's a nice break from it, but it's still using my strengths The partnership is I think sometimes some of the most complicated parts about ballroom, but also one of the most beneficial parts Because you learn so much soft skills and having to learn how to communicate. It was a big Struggle for me, especially the beginning Basic let's do an around the world after that then let's go to the face in the face or whatever it's called Yeah Back to this Figuring out how we talk to each other about criticism and feedback is Something that I really learned from ballroom how you tell someone with kindness Corrections, but also how you receive the corrections Being able to communicate that on a one-on-one level was a really valuable skill because I think that could apply to my future in the workplace How the ballroom competitions work is we have seven levels of dancers So you start in what we call newcomer or pre bronze and then it goes up people compete bronze silver silver Gold and then your open-level dances At competitions as big as Purdue comp where you're having 40 couples compete one single dance against each other You have what's called heats and you each do the dance and then you get moved to the next round And then you move into the finals where there's only six seven or eight couples on the floor, and that's where I want to be For competitions, I'm a bronze dancer primarily, so I have those routines down I know them, but then I have my goal level silver Which is what I'm trying to move into and I am always practicing my bronze moves with Ideally a silver level technique For some of my dances being openly fun Is hard for an introvert sometimes I've had my coaches tell me you need more emotion You're not going to do well if you don't have more emotion on the floor So you're going to do fine at bronze, but silver you are struggling to show your emotion for certain steps Ballroom is outside of classes my most important part of being at Purdue It's big part because I go to ballroom competitions and I cheer on my teammates like crazy whenever I'm not on the floor And we're yelling go Purdue all the time. It's a big boning thing And it really ties me into the school more than I thought it would I Personally am what it's called an all-around dancer. I'm doing all four styles, which each style has four dances So 16 dances at one level and then I'm also competing all those same 16 dances at the silver level my goal level My goal is always to place in all my dances I want to be the last six to eight couples on the floor because those are the ones that get the ribbons That's where I want to be but that means you have to beat the other 30 couples behind that Dance really lets me express myself In a different way It's hard to verbalize sometimes what you're thinking or what you're feeling But with dance you don't need to verbalize it. You just show it my family Always with dance. They like to say the way you carry yourself has changed Ever since you joined dance you're walking around with more confident. You look more confident So even though I'm an introvert. I'm walking into the room with my shoulders back head tall I joined ballroom to be active and to meet people in college and to see around But I also knew it was a performance sport So I knew it would help me in Becoming who I wanted to be I think you can show a lot of who you are on the dance floor And that's what I love about it