Many students at MCA partake in extracurricular activities. One of the students here ice skates whenever she is not in school. Senior Sarah Mayberry has been skating for about nine years. She apart of an ice skating team called the Lone Star Figure Skating Club of Texas that competes all around the region. Practices for the team are every morning, six to seven days a week. Mayberry is apart of individual skating and synchronized skating. For the synchronized team there are three to four competitions and the season goes from February to May. The individual season is year round with seven competitions in the season. With lots of hard work and dedication, Mayberry does her absolute best to perform well at the meets. “Competing gives me an insane amount of adrenaline because you work tirelessly for weeks for a three minute program, there is only one chance to show off the work you have put into your program.” Not only does the hard work pay off after the competitions but the sport offers Mayberry to find a new community outside of MCA. “I love the community the sport has provided me with; my team not only encourages each other during practice but also during each of our individual competitions.”

Since Mayberry is using her time in the sport, she has to find a balance between school and skating. “Managing school and skating has definitely been a struggle, however, I have gotten used to it. Skating has taught me how to have good time management skills because unlike most sports, I can only practice at certain times of the day. I’ve figured out how to manage my school work by using extra time at school to start my homework and making sure that I use my time as efficiently as possible. I work after school as well, so I plan ahead to get things done because I know certain days I won’t have the time.” Mayberry plans to continue skating in college in the individual or synchronized categories.