Figure skating has been a part of my life for over a decade now. My family moved up to Chicago when I was 5, and it was actually my sister Madison’s idea to start ice skating lessons. We started group lessons when I was 7 years old, and my love for the ice has grown ever since.

Growing up in the cold means figure skating was popular up in the north. In 2013, Madison and I joined our Theatre on Ice program. A group of well-rounded skaters come together to learn a theatrical performance and compete at national competitions in the summer. Theatre allows me to find my creative freedom on the ice, something that I don’t feel when I’m skating alone. I fell in love with theatre since.

In 2016, I was offered by our coach to help mentor the Special Olympics Theatre on Ice team. The team was newly formed and this group of skaters was also ready to compete at nationals! Coaching this team along with my friends has been one of the greatest blessings in my life. I made so many new friends that I still connect with today, even though I’m 700 miles away. Especially my friend Brianna, who had made the greatest impact in my life. Brianna is 18 years old and has been diagnosed with autism. When I joined the Special Olympics team, she had immediately decided that we were friends before I even knew her. I rolled along with it, and stayed by her side every practice! It was until then her mom told me that she had a really hard time making friends and she never really liked talking to girls at all. I don’t know what she saw in me, but I’m very grateful that she chose me to be her friend.

I stayed on the Special Olympics theatre team for 3 seasons, and we became 2x national gold medalists and silver medalists. We were invited to compete at international competitions and were even featured on our local news stations.

In the summer of 2018 before my junior year of high school, my dad received a job offer that moved us back to Georgia. This was a rough time for me, as I had to say goodbye to all my friends and leave my ice rink. For about a year after we moved here, our closest ice rink became an hour away and my skating was regressing rapidly. Once a new ice rink opened near me in Fall 2019, I picked up lessons with a new coach, and I have never been more dedicated and more in love with a sport. Now attending the University of Georgia, I continue to compete in singles and with Theatre on Ice here in Atlanta. When life brought me to a mountain, I figured out how to climb over it.