As many of you know, I attend Manhattan Virtual Academy @manhattanvirtualacademyks for my academics while I train in A&A Ballet's @aaballetcenterfordance daytime conservatory program. For the end of semester project in my 6th grade English Language Arts course, I've been tasked with choosing my everyday "unlikely" hero, interview this person firsthand, and develop a creative project of my choice to celebrate this hero. In making my choice, I'm supposed to think about the following questions... who I would like to celebrate and why this person is deserving of this celebration?
The Project Details:
Choose your "unlikely hero" and schedule a time to interview this person.
Develop a list of interview questions to use.
Choose a format to tell your hero's story!
Develop a project plan and get feedback.
Create your final project to celebrate this hero and submit it!
My Everyday Hero Project:
Without a doubt or any hesitation, my "everyday" hero and the person worthy of this celebration is my sister, Meagan Cameron @meagan.ballerina! Although she does not wear a cape, have spider-like senses, or possess any special powers, she is most deserving of this recognition for her "everyday" heroic actions...
First and foremost, my sister is my "everyday" Mom and Dad! We both live away from our home in Manhattan, KS to train at A&A Ballet in Chicago, IL. We share an apartment with chaperons and roommates whom I dearly love from all over the world, but it is my sister that helps me the most with my daily needs. Even though I'm a very independent person, she helps me with activities of daily living such as food preparation, housekeeping, laundry, personal needs, shopping for groceries, managing our finances, using transportation, and communicating our needs to our parents. But most of all, she is there for me when I'm feeling down, ill and/or homesick. She's my mentor, friend, advocate, and sister all wrapped up in one extraordinary package.
Next, my sister is my role model and an "everyday" hard worker! I've literally been watching and admiring my sister since I was a baby. My mom tells me the story about when I was two years old, I used to put on her old leotards and ballet shoes when it was time for her to go to dance class demanding to be just like her. Our first dance studio, in Manhattan, didn't allow students to start dancing until age three, but even they could see my desire to dance and be just like her - so they let me join a year early!
Over the years watching her grow and develop into a beautiful ballet and contemporary dancer, what I admire the most is her work ethic. Even when she faces challenges and/or adversity, she perseveres through her commitment to working hard everyday to achieve her goals. She is my role model and has taught me about the many qualities of what it means to be a hardworking person by being:
Dedicated
Self-Disciplined
Creative
Responsible
Determined
Committed
Patient
And finally, my sister is my "everyday" number one fan! Recently, I've received a lot of attention from all around the world for my successes in ballet and instead of being upset and/or jealous, she's always been my biggest fan. Let me tell you, this is a rarity in the competitive world of ballet not to mention that sibling rivalry is a real thing that exists out there. I'm not saying that we don't have the occasional (or maybe even daily) sisterly cat fight, but I deeply respect her for her ability to cope with other people's successes. Here in this video you'll see just one of many examples of the support that she shows me:
In the video, she organized a "MJ watch party" in our apartment of the Youth Grand Prix Paris Awards Ceremony which was broadcast live on YouTube and made this video for me when I won the Youth Grand Prix Award to celebrate on social media. Her reactions in the video say it all - when I didn't get 1st place her head drops with disappointment for me but when I was awarded the Youth Grand Prix Prize (which only sometimes is awarded) she was absolutely ecstatic! In a world where there is always a target on your back for your successes, constant chatter behind your back, and people being sometimes downright mean - she just loves me and wants what is best for me despite her own desires. I'm truly grateful to have a person like this in my life, love her very much, and couldn't do what I'm doing without her heroic support!
Real hero's, just like my sister, live among us everyday and they often receive no recognition for their heroic actions. Therefore, I'd like to share my hero's firsthand responses to the interview questions developed for this project to give you a glimpse of some important qualities that she possesses and demonstrate why I think she is deserving of this celebration!
Meagan's Interview Responses:
Who is your hero and why?
"My parents because they've taught me to work hard, have fun, make a difference in everything I do, and live my dream."
What are you most proud of?
"I'm most proud of my ability to persevere when faced with adversity."
What are your biggest fears?
"My biggest fears are failure, rejection, imperfection, and change. But I believe working hard everyday despite these fears is the key to achieving my goals and being successful."
What is your greatest strength and biggest weakness?
"My greatest strength is being compassionate toward others and biggest weakness is having confidence in my own abilities."
What has been your biggest challenge thus far and how did you overcome it?
"My biggest challenge thus far is moving away from my family in pursuit of my dreams. Although I wouldn't say that I've completely overcome being homesick, I find it helpful to find alternative ways to connect and communicate with my family and lean on my everyday support system near me to help me get through the hard days."
How do you cope with other people's successes?
"As a dancer in a competitive environment, this might be one of the hardest things to do. But over the years, I've learned a couple coping strategies that seem to help: to stop comparing myself to others, recognize that other's accomplishments aren't my failures, to stop emphasizing my weaknesses and focus on my strengths, to quit trying to determine what is fair or not fair, and to create my own definition for success."
What do you think is the best way to recognize others that support you?
"The best way to recognize others that support you is to just tell them and show them with action how thankful you are to have them in your life."
What are your goals for the future?
"Although I have lots of personal and professional career goals for my future, my main goal in life is to live in the moment, love the people that matter to me, and give back to others in my community using my gifts and talents."
To celebrate my sister for being my everyday hero, I've created a short video to thank her and showcase her heroic support for me...
I hope this holiday season, that this inspires you to pay it forward and celebrate your own everyday hero to let them know just how important they are to you!
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