Like most people, my best years were not my high school years. I was confused about who I wanted to be, caught between being a jock and a musician, not totally sure if I was smart or just really good at cramming text book sentences into my scattered brain. My first year focus was varsity ice hockey. I made varsity as a freshman and hated it. I didn't like my coach, felt intimidated by my teammates for the first time ever and to top it off, I was recovering from blowing my knee out six months before. That was my last season playing.

About three quarters of the way through the hockey season, musical auditions came about. The show for the year was "Annie Get Your Gun." I had never heard of it. While sitting in biology class 7th period the day of auditions, I decided I wanted to audition. Needless to say, I tanked the audition. Somehow I ended up in the show a few weeks later. When we put the show on in April, my life changed. I loved being on stage more than I ever loved being on the ice, and the gear didn't stink as bad.

Sophomore year, my focus was music. I started auditioning for festivals, making them, attending them, participating in every musical (including shows outside of school) and the young singers chorus in my state. I was blessed enough to attend a high school where the arts were fully funded, very much alive, and very much appreciated. I started taking more music classes, participating in ICantori (our a cappella group) and skipping class to practice for my private voice lessons. Thanks to three people within my music department, I discovered who I was. My choir director, my private teacher and my theory teacher helped me, day by day, realize that I was a musician. I was meant to do music for the rest of my life.

The more active I got in the music department the more I was realizing they were right. My other teachers started seeing and hearing me perform and became wildly accepting of my tardiness (probably because I was still getting my work done and in on time). By the time my senior year rolled around I was singing the national anthem for almost every home game and spending every free moment in practice rooms. I had applied and been accepted to Berklee College of Music and I had Harwood Union High School to thank.

Dear Harwood,

Though I strongly disliked you I owe you a thank you. Thank you for helping me discover the true path I was meant to be on. Thank you for providing me with the resources in the Music Department to not only discover my voice but to embrace it, harness it, and train it properly. Thank you for teaching me to bend the rules and question authority when I had good reason. Most importantly thank you for keeping the arts and music programs alive in our schools, they kept me out of trouble and molded me into the person I am today. As I get ready to begin my final year at the number one contemporary music school in the world, I am forever grateful for the music department I was provided by you.

Sincerely,

Kaitlin MacLean Daley, HUHS class of 2012