“Something that angers me like nothing else is when people are disingenuous.”
Miranda, lover of the so-called impossible, describes her frustration with insincerity. “I strongly believe that an individual’s personality should not drastically change depending on who else is around.” For this reason, she strives to remain true to herself.
In her day to day life, she works hard to carry out her goals and embody what she believes in. Her drive is inspired by her parents: “When they were children, they had far fewer resources than I have, and they spent their lives trying to provide me with a better one than they had. For this reason, I wake up, day after day, and try to take full advantage of all of the opportunities they have given me.”
And she succeeds. Miranda is an accomplished scholar at Syracuse University with high ambitions and a knack for transforming her dreams into reality through committed work and many a late night.
Yet Miranda’s experiences haven’t always been so smooth sailing: “Something I don’t share with many people is that stating in middle school, I had to wear a scoliosis brace for 24 hours every single day. It was this awful thick contraption that ran from my hips to my shoulders. I could not bend over without it being seen, so instead I would have to squat straight down if I needed to pick something off the ground.”
Although this is nothing to have been ashamed of, Miranda still struggled with the experience and her image. “For nearly four years, I could only wear sweatshirts and baggy shirts to conceal my brace.”
This wasn’t the worst part, however. Most of all, the brace was incredibly painful. Miranda recalls, “It was as though I were being squeezed around my torso, making it hard to breathe. I could feel the brace shoving my spine into a line, but if I took it off for a few hours, the pain would be ten times worse the next time I put it on.”
It was as if Miranda had lived in shackles for this part of her life: “I felt imprisoned for every moment of every day that I had to wear that brace.”
Nevertheless, Miranda persevered, and as she progressed through her education, her experiences improved in the face of her resilience.
A runner, Miranda reminisces on one of her happiest memories: the time she won the 800m dash at a track invitational and qualified for sectionals. “I had never pushed myself that hard before,” she describes, “and I remember feeling as though I had truly given it my all.” This endurance gave Miranda a sense of newfound strength and power: “In that moment, I felt like I could accomplish anything.”
Beyond the positivity she finds in track, Miranda is also an avid musician who loves her band community and the thunder they bring to others’ sporting events. “Something I live for is getting to play in the Syracuse University Pep Band. Being surrounded by some of my favorite people, all working together to try to help our basketball team defeat their opponent, and all while having a blast playing or favorite music—that’s one of the best feelings.”
A bright student, Miranda also strives to give the gift of learning back. She appreciates the moments when she’s tutoring a student and sees that the concept she just explained finally clicked: “That’s such a rewarding feeling.”
It is times like these that inspirit Miranda—the moments she crosses the finish line, the moments her soul is lost in the bellow of the music, the moments a lightbulb flickers in her students’ heads. It is the moments of the so-called impossible that motivate her to go on—despite every challenge she must overcome.
About Miranda
Mathematician, runner, musician, lover of science and the so-called impossible
Note: Name has been changed
Between the Lines 