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