When I was two years old, my talent and passion for singing were born. I used to sing all the time, almost nonstop, until I started school. Things such as schoolwork, stress, and bullying slowly parted me from singing. I lost my passion and was left with unused talent, and I also developed terrible anxiety—especially when it came to singing. I eventually ended up homeschooling for about a year because my mom was battling breast and pancreatic cancer. After that year, in October of 2025, I decided to join my local school, Congress Middle. One day in dance class, other students were practicing a dance to the song “On Broadway” from Smokey Joe’s Café. Since I was new, I stood awkwardly in a corner while watching the more experienced students dance. Mr. Coicou came into the classroom, watched them, and said something like, “I wonder if they know how to sing the song.” He suddenly had us line up in front of him and led us through a vocal warm-up. I noticed that he kept glancing in my direction while I was warming up, but I didn’t think much of it—I assumed he might be looking at another student nearby. He then had the students on my side of the line sing, and after that, he asked me to sing on my own. I was extremely nervous, but I did it anyway. After I sang, he seemed very impressed with my voice and asked me to learn how to sing and dance to “On Broadway” for a show, along with a few other students. At first, I joined my dance teacher’s after-school club and also attended Mr. Coicou’s after-school club just to learn the song. While I was there, I learned that there were open auditions for several roles, so I decided to audition for Elsa in Frozen. To my surprise, I got the role. Ever since then, I have become much more confident in myself and have found my passion once again. I’ve been embracing my talent and have become far more open to singing—for other people and for myself. I thank Mr. Coicou for bringing back my passion for music and singing. I truly believe he deserves the Life-Changing Teacher Award more than anything, because you don’t realize how powerful encouragement can be until you finally feel like yourself again—and this time, that someone was me. Sincerely, Arielle Lopez