Dancing since the age of five, freshman Samantha Hopkins expresses her opinion on how balancing school, dance and maintaining a social life affects her. 

From the beginning 

Hopkins started dancing as soon as she started kindergarten. 

“I can’t remember not doing dance, but through quarantine when I did dance on Zoom, I realized it was hard not to be doing it constantly. It kept me busy, and it made me happy. I realized it had an impact as big as it does when I wasn’t doing it as much,” Hopkins said. 

After dancing for a while, Hopkins states that some of her supporters have stood out above the others.

“My mom has definitely been my biggest support because she’s told me if I ever feel the need to quit or take a break it’s completely fine with her, and she helps me think about it when I’m having tough times,” Hopkins said. 

The balance 

When rehearsing six days a week for years, some may find it tiring.

“I dance at a school in State College, I go every day except Sunday. I dance for at least two hours everyday, and on Saturdays I dance for around five hours. When it gets closer to a performance, I have to push myself a little harder to make sure it’s perfect,” Hopkins said.

According to Hopkins, keeping up with her mental health is one of the most important things to do when dealing with a lot of pressure.

“It’s definitely really hard without having time to think about how I’m feeling and h

ow to keep my stress level low, but I just try to relax and find time for myself and to do things that make me happy, like watching my comfort show, Gilmore Girls,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins claims she has figured out a solution for handling homework on the road without having to stress and stay up too late. 

“Because I dance in State College, I do a lot of homework on the way there so I can get it done and not have to stay up too late trying to do it. Whenever I have any free time, I try to get my school work done. Throughout the day if I’m in classes, and I’m not doing anything, I’ll do my homework. I’m a perfectionist so I have to have good grades, and have to be good at dance. It is important to have a social life for my mental health and dance makes me happy. It’s all important,” Hopkins said. 

Staying connected 

Not being able to hang out with her friends a lot causes Hopkins to use social media as a way to stay connected with them. 

“I obviously use a lot of social media and I facetime [my friends] whenever I can just so we can get caught up. Anytime I’m not dancing I’m talking to my friends. I don’t feel like I have enough time but if I look at it from a different perspective, it would look like I have a normal life. I feel like I don’t hang out with my friends as much as I should but I can’t. I don’t think I have enough time but I make it work,” Hopkins said. 

Even after 10 years of dancing, Hopkins has favorite moments and more difficult ones to go with it. 

“Definitely the performances, I don’t do competitions but I do classical. We have four performances a year and it’s really fun going to that with my dance friends. The preparation is definitely annoying because of all the rehearsals but the night of the show is really exciting,” Hopkins said. “The long hours are probably the most difficult thing because I get home later than expected. I only have time to hang out with people on Sunday but I still make it work.”