Andrea Hefferan

I live my life in constant song. Singing, playing instruments, dancing, just listening and taking it all in. Each song is filled with emotion and a message to the listener. It's amazing how people can connect over what they listen to. My love for music began at an early age. My mom signed me up for classes when I was a toddler in which we sang songs and played instruments. At the age of six, I was ready to commit to my first official instrument. I wanted to play violin, but was convinced by my parents to play piano instead. I don't regret that choice, though when I reached sixth grade and got to choose an instrument for school, I picked the violin without hesitation. I still play both to this day. But taking up instruments was only the beginning. As I got older, the music I listened to became a substantial part of my identity. When I turned ten, I got an iPod, but more importantly, I got Spotify. Now I could listen to anything. No more downloading songs onto an mp3 player f...

I was always the academic kid. You know, the one who wakes up every day actually looking forward to learning something. Or the one that always has some random trivia to share that was something they learned back in first grade. Or the one who consistently gets high marks on every test and brags about their "straight A+'s". The teacher's pet, the nerd, the smarty-pants; call them what you wish, but everyone knows who I'm talking about. And the thing is, I didn't mind. School came easy to me, and I found joy in filling my mind with knowledge. The facts stayed stuck in my head and were perfectly accessible when I needed them. You could never separate me from a book, and as a result I was very proficient in spelling and writing. No one wanted to peer-edit with me, because while my paper would come back with a generic "great story," I would return my partner's covered in red marks pointing out every single grammatical error. And forget studying!...