by Veronica Saldanha  ’20

As stated by its mission statement:

Lawrence Academy recognizes you for who you are and inspires you to take responsibility for who you want to become…

Personally, over the last several years at Lawrence Academy, I have come to realize that being who you are is a big part of being a student at LA.

As an international student, when I first moved onto Lawrence Academy’s campus, I was shocked by the learning environment.

It just seemed to be hands-on and very interactive.

I remember freshman year in Global Cultures class, we were learning about the Harlem Renaissance and the teacher, Mrs. Huggins, decided that we were going to do a project that would involve pretending we were characters from the Harlem Renaissance.

With the mission statement in my head, I decided that I would try singing in front of my peers.

At that time, I really thought to myself that it was either going to lead to something good or just be a big embarrassment, as I had only really sung in my room. However, I still decided to go for it.

When the time came, I sang in front of 16 of my peers and the response was pretty good. But something that really stuck with me was the fact that I started singing because of history class, because of the support that was given to me from my teacher and peers.

I could’ve just stayed silent and done nothing, but instead, I decided to step out of my comfort zone.

I was then introduced to the Music Department who helped me build my confidence to perform in front of a whole audience in the auditorium. Ever since then, I have been part of the LA singers and the annual school musical.

I would have never started singing if it wasn’t for my teacher and peers at LA. When I first came here, I never realized that I would find something that I love, let alone find confidence in a history classroom. I became invested in singers and now it is one of the things on campus that I love the most. It has become an important part of my life and I will always thank LA for the support.

Whether it is sports or music, LA has always been supportive and is a great community to discover yourself.