Advika Sharma | Senior

Advika Sharma is a senior at LASA who participates in many school clubs and activities outside of school. She takes a special interest in dance and taekwondo. Sharma said that throughout her life, she’s learned many lessons in leadership and confidence from these extracurriculars.

The Liberator: What extracurriculars do you enjoy? 

Sharma: At LASA, I am part of [the] French club, DivCo [Diversity Council], and Red Cross. I do physics tutoring as well. Outside of school, I do taekwondo and dance mainly.

So how do these activities impact your life? 

It takes up a lot of my time. I’ve been doing dance and taekwondo since I was very young, so it’s really shaped me into the person I am—and I know that sounds really cliche but there’s so many lessons, there’s so many things I can see myself living. I might not even realize it but they all come from a background in taekwondo… Having that discipline, having that respect for people who are above you in any way, it doesn’t always have to be age. From dance–I literally cannot live without dance in my life. I need to have some sort of rhythm, music, constantly. I talk with my hands a lot too. So, everything has sort of played a role in shaping me. 

Do you see these hobbies being part of your future? 

I definitely want to. I definitely do want to continue dance and taekwondo especially just because I can’t imagine life without it. I have never lived a life that I remember without dance and taekwondo. And, as I sort of am ready to go off to college, I feel like that still needs to be part of my life. I don’t want to leave that behind. 

What have been some interesting events you’ve gotten to be part of through these extracurriculars? 

I’ve performed at multiple venues through dance. I’m currently preparing for what’s called an Arangetram; it’s like a dance graduation of sorts. So it’s three hours, 11 dances, and you get your certificate to say, ‘Okay, now you’re a professional dancer.’ Preparing for all that has been a long journey. But it’s really fun to learn all those dances and slowly build up the stamina to do all of them together.

I’m a certified instructor at taekwondo, so that gives me a lot of opportunities to deal with different types of students and kids—from people that are age four all the way up to people that are way older than me. And to be able to treat those people with respect but also display that I do have authority here, it can kind of be hard sometimes as a teenager. I think displaying that sort of sense of leadership, and passing on my knowledge to those people, I’ve learned a lot from judging and national competitions and things like that. Interacting with people that I don’t really speak to on a daily basis, I have to be able to say, ‘You don’t know me, and I know I look really young, but trust my rank, trust my certification, let me judge your rank, let me take charge. Let me step up to different opportunities.’ And I think it’s taught me a lot about taking initiative for myself, and I’ve learned a lot about that and expressing myself to others, and not shying away from that because of dance and taekwondo and the opportunities I’ve had.