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- The leader of the Dance Club in Tower Hill School -  Hi, I am Aileen, a current junior student at Tower Hill School Wilmington Delaware. Welcome to my dance world! I took my first ballet class at 4 y/o, which was terrific. I was so into the gorgeous ballet tutu and dreamt of wearing those point shoes. So, I was starting my ballet journey. In the next ten years, I enjoyed ballet classes, attended performances, joined competitions and won many awards. But one day, when my coach put a lot of work on my knees and told me that my knees look slightly bigger than other girls. I was considering about which difference between me and the professional ballet dancers? because who wouldn't want to see ballerinas dancing variations with their powerful and flexible legs on the stage? I decided to solve this BIG KNEES problem.
 I tried all the way what I knew, training the muscles of my legs every day and putting heavy items on them when I was stretching. Sometimes, I couldn't walk generally after half an hour of pressure training, my legs could only be stiff and very painful, like broken Pinocchio. Trust me, never try this. No matter how hard I tried, my legs always looked bent. I was anxious during that time. Thanks to my mom for stopping this, "Dancing requires using your whole body, not only just your knees, and it's even more important that you have a passion for dance. Aileen, enjoy it as happy as you want. Let's forget this BIG KNEES thing!"  I was beginning to study some different dance styles, such as Chinese dance and K-pop dance. I attended ballet camps and master classes around the world. When I was 13, I moved to the US from Shanghai China with my family. At first, I was curious about everything and so did my classmates. After I danced a ballet solo at the school new year performance, everyone knew me! So far, my dance has become a Chinese new year tradition in our school, I founded the dance club when I was grade 9. Out of school, I explored more about this new environment, I did volunteer works at local museum and a Chinese language school every weekend. I learnt how to cooperate with colleagues and learnt fishing skills and a lot of science knowledge. After I won the President's Volunteer Service Silver Award, a unique idea popped into my mind. Why can't I help more people in my community with my dancing talent? So, I created a dance workshop in Hockessin community! During summer and winter breaks, I successfully hosted four dance workshop events with leadership experience and organizational accumulation in the school dance club.My talent for dance and my interest in science since my childhood led me to explore the connection between dance and the science. One day, I read a research article about "Dancing and the Brain" (article's address: https://hms.harvard.edu/news-events/publications-archive/brain/dancing-brain). It mentions "Dance can actually decidedly improve brain health, and movement is a therapy to neurological disease, such as Parkinson's disease." I was fascinated by the positive neurological effect of dance described in the article. This has inspired me keep going to explore science world. I looked for opportunities to explore science around me. I joined a biology research project in my high school. I attended biology and chemistry summer camps in UPenn. I also spent one week in spring break working as an intern in the local lab to accumulate more practical experience in the laboratory. Good news, our high school biology research article was published last month in this new year. ( Article Link ) This is my story. Just like Helen Keller said, "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched, they must be felt with the heart." I do agree, because when I enjoy dancing or exploring the science, my heart can feel these! Aileen Zhang Feb 21, 2025 Hockessin Delaware, USA |