Elizabeth.Power in softness.

When I first came to debates I was freaked out by the tall sixth-formers, who clearly knew so much more than I did. I began by observing. Then I entered the team, and became one of its leading members.

A victory in the global campus senior debate competition led to my election as head of debates. There I introduced education into the club, and trainings in public speaking, and I taught the newcomers. Watching their confidence grow made me proud of the work — not of the trophy, of them.

I started Global Voice with a team of five. I expanded it to fifteen and changed the organisation and structure of the newspaper completely.

We began collaborating with thirty-four schools around the world, and obtained articles from MIT students and staff. The club became a place students of different ages were eager to join — not for a line on a CV, but to learn editorial skills.

Practising for the ABRSM exam was not without tears. I even wanted to drop violin completely. After a couple of months without it, I realised it felt as if a part of me had been torn away.

I started playing for myself, with a new understanding. Love for music pulled me into analysis — theory, interpretation — and I could apply that to playing at a different level. Music follows me everywhere I go. There is nothing scarier than a day when it has gone out of me, and I no longer hear it in my ears.