Student Perspective: Students Set High Goals

Getting good grades is usually the primary goal for any motivated high school student. Most teens would be content with achieving the highest possible scores, whether it's a quarterly average, an AP exam, or an SAT. 

Seniors at Lakeland High School are quickly approaching the most important decision of their lives. While most students, members of the Class of 2011, are primarily focused on the right combination of grades, extracurriculars, and essays to get them into their dream school, senior Alice Fischetti finds herself in a unique situation.

Alice, unlike most high school seniors, plans to major in Dance while attending college. This in turn leads to an entirely different application process that includes a decisive audition.

"This audition is the final cut for the process so you pretty much have one chance to prove you're good enough for that school,"Alice said.

"Applying as a dance major this year is 1,000 times more stressful than just applying to school as an undecided because not only does every applicant have to be academically qualified, but we have auditions for each school that solely determine our acceptance," she explained. 

The audition process for New York University consists of a ballet class followed by a modern dance class and a cut. If the prospective dance major makes the first cut, they will then perform a solo piece and be interviewed, which leads to either acceptance or denial from the major.

"It's tough," she said.

But what's even tougher for Alice is a severe ankle injury, which has greatly impeded her ability to prepare for the crucial audition process.

This injury has prevented her from dancing for seven months, an exponential amount of time for a dancer.

"For ballet taking a week off is like taking a year off," Alice said. "We need classes every day to keep our bodies in dance shape."

She compared her involuntary hiatus to years of inactivity for another athlete.

The solution? "A lot of dedication to dance," Alice said.

Because she dances in Manhattan, Alice has leave for the train station straight from school in order to allow time for homework and studying.

"It's pretty rough leaving school to go directly to the train dance for three and a half hours and then get home at 9 p.m. to do all my homework," she explained, "but this is going to be my third year doing this so I pretty much have the whole balancing thing down."

Her secret? "I don't sleep," Alice jokes.

Besides sleep, Alice has made many sacrifices over the course of her career to further reach her fullest potential as a dancer, including taking weekend classes which limited the amount of time for socializing.

"Yes, it kind of stunk not being able to hang out with my friends as much, but it's worth going to a really prestigious dance school for and hopefully getting into NYU," Alice said.

Because of the complicated audition process and the complications caused by her injured ankle, Alice is looking to study writing as something to fall back on.

For sophomore Andrew Mitgang, concerns about college are a distant issue. 

For him, it's about taking a more prominent role on the soccer field and in the classroom. Andrew started on Lakeland's men's soccer team last fall as a freshman, accumulating five points for the 12-5-1 Hornets.

The team, which won a league championship against Mahopac last year, is looking to win 12 games and win a sectional title, according to him. However, the Hornets have a challenging road ahead of them. Andrew said the height of the team is a disadvantage. 

"Our team is very young," he said. "There are only four seniors on the team, and one is injured, so three on the field. We are still immature, but maturity will come with time."

Despite his age, the athlete is looking to help expedite the maturation process by becoming more of a leader on the field, a tough task for a sophomore.

"I hope to become a more reliable player on the soccer field and become a leader out there as well," said Andrew, who plans to step up his off the field and offseason training to meet this goal.

While athletics are very important, his grades still take priority.

"I always pride myself on being an intelligent human being," Andrew said. "Last year I was a low 90s student and I hope to improve on those grades even more this year."

Andrew stressed the necessary balance between the two aspects of school.

"Sports can help you get noticed, but you're not going anywhere in life without an education," he said.

As Lakeland's students get ready to take the 2011 school year on, their minds are focused on nothing but greatness, whether it is upon stage, on the field, or inside the grade book.