Photo by Aiden F.
If you don’t know Elyssa Biscocho, she is a grade 10 student who is all about dancing, drawing, reading, and travelling. Elyssa’s classes this semester consist of visual art, history, math, and religion. She looks forward to all of her classes, especially art, as it gives her the chance to display her creativity and develop her artistic abilities.
Elyssa is a very involved person, and her day to day life is full of extracurriculars and activities. She is a member of the school dance team, and is a dancer as well as a choreographer, a role that she is proud to have been given. She also competes with the newly revived St Joseph’s Swim Team, which she is very excited to be a part of. Outside of school, she contributes to her community when she can, by altar serving at her local church, and doing volunteer work on the weekends.
School activities were something that Elyssa was interested in this year, and she wanted to see if any new teams or clubs would peak her interest. She ultimately chose to try out for the dance and swim team because she has always had a love for those two sports. Many of her family members participated in dance, therefore she grew up surrounded by a passion for it. On the topic of swimming, she was enrolled in lessons at a young age, and has continued to take them ever since, her enthusiasm for the sport growing each year. After a break that she took from the water, she decided to return to swimming as an athlete on the school team this year.
Dance in particular has always been a cornerstone of who Elyssa is. Her first experience in dance was at the age of 6, when she stepped foot in her first ballet class. She took to learning plenty of other dance styles over the years, such as hip hop, lyrical, and jazz. Always on the lookout for opportunities to excel and perform, Elyssa joined her elementary school dance team, as well as the Lasers Dance Team in grade 9, continuing on in grade 10. She looks forward to a competition called DanceFest each year in which she competes. This is a competition which only includes student choreographed dances. Elyssa is a huge fan of this idea, as it is a way to showcase what she and her fellow dancers can create, all on their own, and she also enjoys being together with all kinds of creative kids her age.
A main hobby of Elyssa's is reading. She is interested in all kinds of books, and through reading a wide variety of novels, she found her favourite book series, which is The Mortal Instruments, by Cassandra Clare. Elyssa discovered these books, which are about half-angel, half-human defenders of Earth, when she was in grade 7, and sped through each and every book, instantly becoming a fan. She likes the series for its supernatural elements, in which she takes an interest. She also enjoys the movie adaption of the first book, and it is her dream to meet the cast of the film, as well as the author of the books.
Looking to the future, Elyssa sees herself as a surgeon, a job she is working hard to achieve. She also plans on being an avid traveller in her post high-school life. She aspires to fly all over the world and visit many different locations, such as England, Rome, and Asia, to name a few. She also would love to publish a book in the future, as writing is one of her favourite pastimes. She hopes to make this lifelong goal a reality by continuing to improve her writing.