"As much as we're here to inspire y'all, you guys inspire us. When we see students excelling, it makes us wanna be better. You see a lot of students who were under-performing, and now they're accomplishing their own goals, and we're so, so proud- it's crazy."

"I don't think that I do a lot [for others], but I know that many people can be affected by the littlest things- in a positive way. I make sure people take care of themselves, and that they know how important they are to me. Everyone needs to know that they're special in their own way."

“Why do I sleep in class? I’m really tired. It’s kind of contradictory, because like, I get stressed out over grades, and then I get exhausted from that, but then it just gets worse cause I’m sleeping. Grades stress me out because we’re taught that if we fail at school, we fail at life. So, it’s a really big stressor, 'cause obviously everyone wants to be happy- and we’re taught that...

 "I basically had a rib removed due to [cheer complications]. I made up a cool story about it. I told my physical therapist that I got into an Irish Mob in New York. They tried to slit my throat. So now I'm in the witness protection program. I think it's good to joke around about stuff like that. When something happens to you, you can either be sad about it or make the best out of it. Yeah, I get sad a lot,...

"No one [should] feel negatively about who they are, and sometimes, I do. People want me to care about what they think. I don't, though, because it's not gonna make me happy about who I am, focusing on other people's opinions. I hate stereotypes, I want to crush them. There's more to me than the girl who wears black." ...

"One thing I struggle with is self-confidence. I always feel like I can't do good, so I push myself really hard and end up doing better. I guess I believe people should keep trying harder, 'cause in the future, you'll be like, 'wow, I did that'." ...

"If they don't know [me] personally, [I] don't take it personally. Nothing anyone can say is something I haven't heard before from a stranger. Most of my self-confidence actually came from drag queens. If they can love themselves, and have a thick skin, and go through life and be amazing, and be more woman than I could ever be, then I could do it."