This I Believe:
Follow Your Passion
By Jacob Sutton 708
All summer long, I
struggled and agonized over my decision of whether or not to sing in the senior
division of the Brooklyn Youth Chorus.
After all, it was a huge time commitment – two afternoons a week where I
would come home after 7:00pm. My parents
wanted me to consider my other commitments during the week such as Bar Mitzvah
tutoring, Hebrew school, math tutoring, soccer practice and two other choruses,
to name a few. They were wondering that
if I took on these additional two afternoons, how would I have time for my
school work. And I was feeling the
pressure of keeping my grades up in the all-important 7th grade
year. Trust me, if it was only my
decision, I would simplify my life with only school and chorus. Still, what was very clear was that somewhere
in my heart, I knew that singing had to be a part of my life as it lifts my
spirits and my confidence. Singing is my
greatest passion…and I believe that it is important to pursue your passions, no
matter the obstacles.
When I was four years
old, I started singing, not seriously, but I started singing. I committed to memorizing the lyrics from the
musicals The Lion King, Mary Poppins
and The Music Man, to name a few. I can
remember performing for my parents as I imagined myself to be “Curly” as he
sang to Laurie his love interest from Oklahoma,
or Macavity, as I imagined myself to be the master criminal and mystery cat
from Cats.
My parents watched as
I matured into a more serious singer. In
third grade, I decided that I needed a place to formally explore my
passion. I auditioned for the Brooklyn
Youth Chorus and at that time, I was placed in their junior division. It was there that I started to think differently
about genres of music and singing in general.
Pursuing your passion
as a student sometimes comes with conflict and difficult decisions. In 6th grade, I had an incredible
opportunity to take on the role of Kurt Von Trapp in a one night gala
performance of The Sound of Music at
Carnegie Hall where I performed with famous Broadway stars. It seemed obvious that I would follow this
dream until I learned that the performance was scheduled for the evening before
the first day of the New York State math test.
If I performed, I would need to miss the first day of the test and then
I would need to take a makeup. In the
end, I convinced my mother that I should accept the offer, that this could be
the chance of a lifetime to do what I love most.
Now that I’ve had a
chance to look back on my experiences, I realize that though pursuing my
passion was complicated, these experiences were unique and enriched my life in
significant and meaningful ways. I
imagine that there are many kids like me who struggle with similar decisions in
pursuing their passions. I hope that
they are able to find the balance that allows them to follow their heart. If you follow your heart and give it your
all, you can never regret not exploring your dreams to the fullest.
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