| For this week's "It's All About Balance" student | | | | have ever experienced. Moving through the glassy |
| spotlight, Campus Calm had the opportunity to chat | | | | water with one motion with seven of my best friends |
| with Margaret Zupa, an 18-year-old senior who attends | | | | as the sun turns the sky pink and purple is the most |
| Nardin Academy in Buffalo, New York. At first glance, | | | | gratifying and serene thing in the world. |
| it would seem that Margaret is your textbook high | | | | Campus Calm: What are you most proud of in life? |
| achiever: straight A's, a slew of extra curricular | | | | Margaret: I am most proud of my friends and family. |
| activities and a part-time writing gig on the side. | | | | From my teammates, all of whom are incredible |
| Margaret is captain of her school's crew team, | | | | people who do everything I do and more, to other |
| co-president of the service club, a member of the | | | | friends who have come through extremely difficult |
| National Honor Society and a Buffalo News NeXt | | | | things in their lives with a positive attitude, to my family |
| (teen) correspondent. | | | | who provide the best example for me I could ever ask |
| But despite juggling a ton of responsibilities, Margaret | | | | for; the people who surround me are what makes me |
| understands that she needs to maintain a healthy | | | | who I am and what I am most proud of. |
| amount of balance to lead a truly happy and | | | | Campus Calm: What are you grateful for? |
| successful life. Unfortunately, many students never | | | | Margaret: I am also most grateful for my friends and |
| come to this realization until much later in life, if ever. If | | | | family, for without their constant positive influence, |
| you're looking for tips on how to balance school with | | | | unconditional love, and unending support I could never in |
| fun and to find positive ways to develop a strong | | | | a million years do what I have done in the past 18. |
| sense of self in the process, this is a teen you'll most | | | | Campus Calm: What do you think makes for a |
| certainly want to meet! | | | | beautiful person? Do you think you're beautiful? Why |
| Campus Calm: Given your full schedule, how do you | | | | or why not? |
| make time for fun on a regular basis? Do you believe | | | | Margaret: I think a beautiful person is someone who |
| that your ability to balance fun and work today will help | | | | sees the beauty in others before the ugliness. I |
| to make you more happy and successful tomorrow? | | | | certainly try to be such a person, because life is |
| Why or why not? | | | | always better when you see the good before the bad |
| Margaret: I make time for fun by getting assignments | | | | and appreciate all of the talents and positive traits of |
| and other things done early, when I have time to do | | | | other people before noticing their shortcomings. |
| them, instead of waiting until the last weekend before | | | | Campus Calm: Please finish this sentence: I believe an |
| they are due and panicking about it. If I get things done | | | | education enables me to do ________. |
| a while before the deadline, then I have time to relax | | | | Margaret: I believe an education enables me to-effect |
| while everyone else is cramming. I definitely believe | | | | positive change in the world. |
| that this balance will help me in the future, because I | | | | Campus Calm: Please finish this sentence: I believe |
| can certainly look back on high school and have great | | | | grades measure ________. However, no letter |
| memories of all the fun I had, but also have strong | | | | grade could possibly measure ________. |
| grades to show that I was working hard at the same | | | | Margaret: I believe grades measure-book knowledge. |
| time. | | | | However, no letter grade could possibly |
| Campus Calm: What do you do to unwind after a | | | | measure-character and resilience, which I believe are |
| stressful day at school? | | | | key to success in any career and in life. |
| Margaret: After a stressful day at school, I always go | | | | Campus Calm: What is your personal definition of a |
| to crew practice. Without fail, working out and being | | | | happy and successful life? |
| with my fantastic teammates and coaches is the best | | | | Margaret: For me, a happy and successful life is one |
| thing to make me realize how trivial all of the little things | | | | that is rewarding to the person living it. It they wake up |
| that worry me are, and how incredibly lucky I am in the | | | | every day thinking that today is going to be a great |
| first place. | | | | day, because they are going to help someone or truly |
| Campus Calm: What do you and your friends do for | | | | enjoy what they are doing, then they are happy and |
| fun? | | | | successful. |
| Margaret: My friends and I go out to eat, go see a | | | | People who hate their jobs, no matter how much |
| movie, go to [Buffalo] Sabres games, get coffee, or | | | | money they make or what kind or car they drive, |
| just hang around with each other for fun. Whatever | | | | cannot live a happy life if they do not feel that their life |
| we do, we end up laughing and enjoying each other so | | | | is rewarding and gratifying, whether it be because of |
| much it rarely matters where we are. | | | | their great family, their job, or their hobbies. People |
| Campus Calm: What pastimes bring you a sense of | | | | have to find some sense of purpose and goal in life, |
| calm? | | | | the thing that makes it worth getting up every day and |
| Margaret: Rowing is absolutely the one thing in the | | | | the thing that allows them to sleep at night feeling |
| world that gives me a sense of absolute peace. | | | | fulfilled. No matter what this thing is, I believe that feeling |
| Especially early in the morning, when my teammates | | | | like one is contributing and making a difference, no |
| are the first people I see and a boat is the first thing I | | | | matter how large or small, is the key to a happy and |
| touch, and the sun hasn't even brightened the water | | | | successful life. |
| yet -- being on the water is the most calming thing I | | | | |