When I joined band, I thought I was only signing up to learn the oboe. Inadvertently, I signed up to be adopted by a 200 member family, which would indelibly shape my character and guide me through my young adult life. Then, halfway through high school, I discovered Academic Decathlon. This tight-knit, team-based, and competitive extra-curricular forced me to adopt efficient studying skills and to have confidence in myself outside of a musical context. Balancing both band and Decathlon, I picked up many skills which will prove to be invaluable to my college career. During my first year in band, I felt as though I was a newborn giraffe, awkwardly stumbling about. Fortunately, the upperclassmen took me under their wing and helped me with everything from geometry homework to understanding the dynamics of friendships and relationships. Not only did they guide me, but they also helped to coax me out of the insecure shell. Hating to draw…show more content… Nearly every day, the Decathlon team could be found having study meets while sprawled out in the coaches’ rooms. With less time to study than most because of band, I experimented with various study methods until I found the most efficient one for me. While college is certainly a different beast to tame, I believe that the study habits I developed in Decathlon will give me an advantage over whatever workload college throws at me. However, Decathlon required much more than just brain power. We also had to give rehearsed and impromptu speeches and go through an interview process. I stuttered through my first year, worried that I was too awkward or saying something out of place. Overtime, I uncovered a degree of charisma and confidence I never knew I had outside of music. The study skills and charisma I developed while in Decathlon will certainly make the transition to college much easier than
