Interests and Life Experience

The BYU Dunk Team

I was a member of an acrobatic team at BYU that specialized in trampoline dunking, stunting, and flipping. We performed at hundreds of shows for diverse audiences, including stadiums of fans, small church groups, individuals with special needs, elementary schools, and large companies.

While on the team, I developed these skills:

• Performance under pressure
• Synchronization and teamwork
• Engaging and entertaining audiences
• Acrobatics and tricking
• Adaptable athleticism

Once or twice a week during the school year, our team put on an assembly at a local elementary school and taught the kids about how to be strong physically, mentally, and socially as well as being safe with technology. These volunteer-based assemblies were chances for us to give back to the community we live in. At the end, we would perform a dunk show for them.

Piano Performance

I studied classical piano for seven years, from age eleven through graduation of high school. Each year, I prepared a volume of pieces, usually amounting to one hour of music. Throughout the year I performed select pieces at quarterly recitals, culminating in a final performance known as Exams at the end of the year, where I played the entire set in front of adjudicators who determined if I could move to the next level. The frequent performances required me to practice daily for anywhere from one to several hours.

This rigorous discipline taught me several things:

• Performance under pressure
• Rhythm, musicality, and finger mechanics
• Not letting mistakes get in the way of progress
• The cumulative power of consistent, focused effort
• Developing talent opens opportunities for service in many settings. For example, I spent one year playing the piano in the lobby of a Memorial Hermann hospital, offering comfort to those inside.

If you are interested in hearing some of what I play, here is a 40-minute recital of mine for you to play in the background while you work:

Two-Year Volunteer Mission

At 19 years old, I left on a two-year volunteer mission for my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) to Fiji, where I helped others learn about Christ and served the community. When applying for a mission, you don't know where you'll be assigned—you only know that you are committing to serve. Wherever you go, you learn the local language and respect the culture. You are paired with a companion 24/7 and switch companions every few months. You work and teach together, always looking for ways to improve.

The mission impacted me in several ways:

• I learned to look outside myself. I learned to put the good and well-being of others over myself and my desires.
• I achieved hard things in a short amount of time. I gained a working proficiency of Fijian in 6 months, learned Rotuman (a completely different language) for another 6 months, and was very fluent in Fijian by the end of the two years.
• I learned to work with all different people. You don't choose who your companion is and sometimes you may not have the same views.
• I learned to see other perspectives and understand others. When teaching the beliefs of my church in a nation that is very religious with many different churches, I had to understand others points of view and make an effort to find commonalities.
• I became very experienced in planning and goal-setting. We were required to daily plan and weekly plan according to the goals we made.

Learning Langauges

Programming languages aren't the only languages I like. I love learning other languages too. So far, I am fluent in:

• Fijian

And I am working on these languages:

• Spanish
• French
• German

If I had more time, I would also love to learn Arabic, Chinese or a language that doesn't use the English alphabet. I love learning languages because they allow you to understand people in a deeper and more meaningful way.