“If you’re questioning your worth and who you are to fit somebody else’s standards of who they think you should be, you need to remove yourself from that situation,” new East Spartan and sophomore Julia Cooper said.
Julia started dancing at age 11 and now spends most of her days, nights, and weekends between the Apollonaires dance team and the Piccoli Dance Theater. When Julia is not dancing, she spends her time with her family. The family of eight loves to be outside, swimming in their new pool or other activities together.
One of Julia’s biggest influences in her life is her mom. “My mom has taught me the basic life stuff,” Julia said, “but then also to keep working and if you don’t get something right away, you gotta keep trying.”
Julia’s cousin has also been a big influence on her life. She is one of the sweetest people Julia has ever met. “She’s really cool and I just think she’s really inspiring,” Julia said.
She describes herself as a competitive person and she believes that this is what motivates her in life. Julia realizes that doing dance now will help long term.
Dancing means a lot to Julia as it has brought her many opportunities and many more to come. One of these opportunities is a group called “Dance Hope Cure,” which is an organization of dancers across the world that help support and spread awareness about childhood cancer.
Julia hopes that her future continues to involve dance, performing, or even broadway. Julia dreams to live in New York because of the different experiences you can get from living there. She also could see herself going into pediatrics, being an oncology nurse, or something in the healthcare field.
“I want to be remembered as somebody that you can always go to, that will always help and support you,” Julia stated. “Or someone who made a small change in the way people think, or the way people do something.”