Community service and choreography earn local teen prestigious scholarship
PUEBLO, Colo. (KRDO) – Peyton Vialpando knows how to keep herself busy.
From running a nonprofit to choreographing her school musicals, she’s entering college busier than most other kids in her graduating class. But she says the hard work all comes with a good payoff.
“You are going to have to sacrifice some things,” Vialpando said. “Honestly, because I love to dance so much, it’s worth it in the end.”
And that hard work is paying off in the form of scholarships. Vialpando was recently awarded a scholarship through the National Society of High School Scholars (NSHSS), recognizing her work in the community. The Future Female Leader Scholarship awards money and mentorship to young women as they graduate high school to help them assume leadership roles as they begin their college careers, according to the NSHSS website.
Vialpando says growing up, her grandpa was her biggest inspiration. After finding out he was suffering from liver cancer while she was in middle school, Vialpando says she wanted to do something to honor his love for music and the arts.
That’s what sparked her nonprofit, Dancing Through the Memories, where she works with the Primrose Retirement Community to teach and perform dances to their residents.
“I just think there was something inside of me that just really wanted to make him proud,” Vialpando said. “My grandma is very into volunteer work, so she was by my side throughout all of this and really helping me out.”
Vialpando has been dancing since she was two and a half. She says her grandpa noticed how much she loved dancing to music he played and started her in classes. She started looking into teaching dance, and once she connected with the team at Primrose, it was easy to get residents involved.
“Our whole thing was how music could bring back memories and bring back joy and happiness like it did to my grandpa,” Vialpando said. “So we asked the people at the retirement center what songs they like to dance to, and from there, I would go home and make a routine up, and I would perform for them.”
Vialpando says that after she performs, she always teaches the residents a dance of their own. Sometimes, they dance right next to her, a favorite memory of hers.
“They really love ‘Sweet Caroline,’” Vialpando said. “Seeing them move from their seats, just knowing that I’m giving them an outlet to escape and to dance and do what brings them joy just really made me happy.”
On top of her nonprofit work, Vialpando has also worked with a traveling dance convention as an assistant. She says she’s done a wide range of work, including checking students in, making sure they get to classes on time and assisting professional choreographers.
If that wasn’t enough dancing, Vialpando teaches at her home studio and has been an assistant choreographer at her high school, Pueblo County High School. It’s that work with musicals that encouraged Vialpando to pursue a degree in dance with a focus on musical theater work.
“I think performing somewhere in New York or California would be so much fun, and then I could bring that back home to Pueblo, Colorado, and expand on our knowledge of dance,” Vialpando said.
Vialpando started by being the lead dancer in a production of Mean Girls before helping to assistant-choreograph Hadestown, which later won an award for best choreography in a statewide competition. She says she also received a lot of support from teachers who encouraged her to apply to dance programs where she could pursue commercial dance full-time in college.
She says the teaching has taught her patience, but also how to work with a wide range of people. Whether it's the little kids or retirees she’s teaching, or the parents and peers she works alongside, Vialpando says it’s all about learning to work with others.
“I don’t think I would be able to work with others as well as I can now if I wasn’t a dancer,” Vialpando said. “Being able to accept that constructive criticism and turn it around to make something that you still like and something that is part of your artistic taste, but still alter it so they can like it too, is very important.”
Now, Vialpando is moving to California to attend Chapman University with a BFA in Dance in just a few weeks. From there, she hopes to gain experience while also potentially pursuing a business degree.
Vialpando says she has plans to continue to work with Primrose and her nonprofit even when she is out of the state, but also hopes to pass it on to a younger generation.
“I would love to stay there as long as I can,” Vialpando said. “I do want to get younger students involved because this is a very good opportunity, and it provides you with a good set of skills to take with you if you do want to be a professional dancer.”
As for advice, the budding college freshman has for other people interested in pursuing a career in the arts, Vialpando says communication is something she can’t overstate.
“If you want to live a life where you juggle a whole bunch of things and do what makes you happy, you've got to let people know when you are available for them,” Vialpando said.
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