My most meaningful extracurricular activity is theatre. No contest. No project has been as rewarding and no community has beenas supporting. Having now been involved in 2 plays and 3 musicals since my freshman year of high school,can say with certainty that such hard wor! has never been so bene"cial. n the past three years,have devoted upwards of #,$$$ hours reading lines, learning choreography, memori%ing cues, and singing songs andwouldn&t trade those '$,$$$ minutes for anything. (heatre has a way of openingpeople up and simultaneously punching them in the gut that, believe or not, has helped me grow more thancould ever have imagined.)hen"rst auditioned for my school musical,did not !now howto sing. *f course,couldn&t hear my whispered lyrics with my heart bursting into my eardrums, so that is something , unfortunately, learned much, much later.was lumped into the ensemble, anyway, and that&s what !indled my long+lasting romance with theatre. (he pure dedication of the entire community was astounding. (here were more casts and crews thancould remember and they all devoted blood, sweat, and tears to ma!ing each other loo! perfect. , however, spent most of my time with the performers and soon reali%edfound the cli,uenever reali%edneeded. (hey were talented, con"dent, anddriven beyond belief. -ut most of all, they were supportive because they understood the stress and the pressure that could so easily ma!e any sane person weep. .uc!ily, becoming a weathered thespian meansreali%ing sanity is overrated. /o from the uncertain /oldier 0# my freshman year,have bounced from supporting roles to leading roles and bac! again, but with each productionhave evolved.have become more con"dent not only in my abilities as a performer, but 1 more importantly 1 in my own s!in. -eing on stage re,uires a !ind of guts and passion that is only achieved by putting yourself out there and accepting vulnerability2 something we can&t often "nd the courage to do.f theatre has taught me anything, it is this2 you gain something from dedication. t&s rarely what you expect, but sometimes that&s evenbetter.have gained more than roles3have gained con"dence, drive, passion, dedication, and family. 4nd for that,am grateful.