MEET COOPER DAY

Within my many hobbies growing up, I was surrounded by Musical Theatre. I remember my very first show was an illegal children's production of The Little Mermaid Jr, and I was sold. I had the time of my life. Once I realized the euphoria of building something in a community, there was nowhere else I'd rather be.

I saw so much talent and respectable passion from my peers, and it was something I wanted to do forever. I spent 30-40 hours a week in various performance groups and companies, but stuck with one for about 4 years. With this company, I traveled across the nation to perform in Nashville, New York, and countless local outreach opportunities, such as the Long Beach Pride parade. We also performed competitively, and when I was 15 Musical Theatre Competitions of America awarded me the Triple Threat Award. This was my biggest achievement I received throughout my Musical Theatre career. 

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Musical Theatre was my life. When I was 12, I started to hear about this art school called Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA), and it quickly became my life-goal to attend. At the time, we lived about an hour away in San Gabriel Valley, but my dreams, my wants, my passions, they were all more important to my sister, father, and mother than staying settled. Once I decided to audition and apply for OCSA, my whole family supported me by uprooting their lives to help me follow my dreams. After self tape auditions, then in person callbacks, on March 26th 2018, 10 days after my 13th birthday, I was accepted into OCSA's Musical Theatre Conservatory. I jumped 10 feet high to say the least. That was the day we all started to pack up, and we sold our home within 4 days of the listing, and Orange County was our new home!
 

While I was excited for a new journey, I had never faced "REAL" school; I was terrified of failing. I never had pressure to succeed on a certain level--ever. This was the first time I would be assessed, scored, and "grade-booked." I felt like if I didn't get a C in 7th grade life science, my whole life would just end. I put a lot of pressure on myself to get ahead before I started school in fear of simply not knowing anything, and even worse, other people noticing I "didn't know anything."

At the time, I felt disadvantaged to be homeschooled. I felt stripped of a "traditional" learning experience. How would I know anything in a classroom if I'd never been in one? Nonetheless, my desire to be there, studying everything I loved at such a young age was by far too overwhelming to look back. The first day came, then the first week, first month, and I realized it wasn't so bad. To my surprise, I thrived in a structured learning environment. In the beginning, I made sure to use every resource I had, I used all of me to adapt to this new environment and expectation.

All the academic work, it was nothing in the mountains of joy I had during our after-school Musical Theatre classes. Looking back, I realize, there's no way I would've been able to maintain a 4.0 in school without my homeschooling background. I wouldn't have the same drive to succeed then, or now. By homeschooling as a young child, I was never forced to learn before I was ready. I was given ample time to play, and discover, protecting my desire and drive for learning. And when the time came to learn in 7th grade, I was ready, and I still have that energy til this day.

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Today, at eighteen, rather than looking at my upbringing as a lack of experience, I can now see how far from the truth that is; I experienced everything. I attribute the time my homeschooling background gave me to the work ethic I developed in Musical Theatre, and although I am no longer a part of the theatre community, I'm still extremely grateful for my experiences; my work ethic to become my biggest strength.

Homeschooling not only fosters young minds' interests, passions, and lives, but protects the unique human experience of loving to learn. As a sixteen year old, I was very eager to work and got a job right away. It was very taxing to balance a busy arts school day, ending at 5:00, then immediately heading to work until 10:00. It started to drain me, and online school started to seem like a better option.

Due to being homeschooled in the past, and the period of online learning during the COVID-19 lockdown, I felt comfortable challenging myself with in a more independent curriculum. School with Pacific Sands Academy allowed me to focus on school, work, and myself. Online school came at a time I really needed balance in my life, and Shauna helped make the transition seamless, just as it was when I was 12.

And the cycle of passion continues, as in the fall, I will be starting an esthetician program to earn my certificate at Fullerton community college. I am inexplicably indebted to the homeschool life I was gifted.

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