Dance team tryouts is mentally challenging because it is the one day of the year where a final decision will take place on a new team. Tryouts can bring first-time dancers excitement, stress, pressure, anticipation and anxiety but freshman Mia Barrett looks forward to this day since she has always looked up to the Bison Belles and her passion for dance. 

“Dancing gets me away from a lot of things happening inside and outside of school; it releases a lot of my stress and it helps me feel happier because I know where to go when I want to relieve stress,” Barrett said. “I have enjoyed meeting new people that are now my second family; I love how a few girls I met showed me how much they care about me and I truly appreciate a lot of them.”

Raised as an outgoing person, Barrett tends to be outspoken and tries to be involved as much as she can. Barrett is currently a member in Bison Belles, works as a basketball manager, and is on journalism staff. 

“I think Mia being outgoing will help her a lot when in situations you have to meet new people and she will do it without any hesitation,” sophomore Marie Herbert said. “She has definitely helped me with stuff going on that I didn’t think was a big deal, but she has shown me not to give up, like on a dance where I didn’t think I was going to get. She has been such a good friend.”

Aside from school activities, Barrett expresses herself through singing whether it is at home, in her choir at church or with her grandma. This hobby started when Barrett was young and it soon became one of her passions. She says she uses singing to “express my thoughts or what I’m feeling through words.”

“She has been singing forever and it’s almost like second nature to her,” freshman Jacoby May said. “I think singing helps her de-stress from the things happening in her life, which is really good for her because she does get a little annoying.”

After high school, Mia has been head-on focused on where she wants to continue her education, and she plans on going to Prairie View A&M. She would like to be a part of the nursing program and be a BSN nurse who helps out in pediatrics or public health. 

“The school that I want to go to is basically for African Americans, and it has a really good nursing school, which are the reasons that I really want to go,” Barrett said. “I have recently chosen to go to this school, and I will strive to do anything in order for me to go.”