For most students, a normal day consists of hitting the snooze button several times before finally waking up and going through the motions throughout the day; persevering through seven classes and getting home shortly after the four o’clock bell rings. However, for junior Abby Jackson, experiencing a “normal” day would be out of the ordinary.

Jackson’s life revolves around performance arts; drama, choir, vocal lessons, and dance lessons occupy any free time inside and outside of school that she may have.

“Typically I’ll get up at about 4:30 and I’ll work out, and then I have about an hour where I can use that for homework time or I can just get ready earlier, but it’s all about time management,” said Jackson.

Jackson has become an expert at balancing her schoolwork with her passion, seeing as her crowded schedule demands those qualities from an avid performer and AP student.

“The hardest is whenever I’m in a show. I had rehearsal from four to six but then I also had vocal lessons from 6:30 to 7:30 and then I would come home and I would have to do homework,” said Jackson.

Along with starring in theater productions and perfecting her craft, Jackson prepares for her future by living every young girl’s dream and fulfilling adolescent wishes by dressing up as a princess for birthday parties.

“I’m a part of Once Upon a Time Princess Parties, and so just about every Saturday morning I have to get up and go do a party, which is so fun. I would totally get up to play a princess,” said Jackson.

With such an ambitious attitude and drive to follow her dreams, Jackson has already found a way to pay off college doing something she loves. “Cookies for College” is an entrepreneurial business, founded by Jackson and her mom, that sells homemade cookies to raise money for college.

“I love to bake anyway, so last summer my mom found this recipe for sugar cookies and they didn’t spread. We tried decorating them and so we found a recipe for royal icing and it literally just took off from there,” said Jackson.

As Jackson discovered her love for baking and decorating desserts that other people seemed to enjoy, her business gained popularity and started to pay off.

“I put all the money that I make aside into a college fund and over about a year we’ve made about $6,000 off of it,” said Jackson. “It’s kind of crazy how much people are willing to support a student who wants to do something to aid financially with college.”

However, along with prosperity comes sacrifice, which is something Jackson has gotten used to and learned to embrace in her life to better it and stay on track.

“If I just was exhausted the night before and I couldn’t finish all of my homework, then I’ll be like ‘Okay, well during lunch today I’m going to sit by myself and instead of having fun with my friends, like I would like to do, and I’m going to knock out this homework,’” said Jackson.

Small sacrifices such as those pay off in the end, and make sure that throughout her frenzied day she gets a breather and doesn’t find herself in a rut.

“It’s tempting for me to just be lethargic, but honestly, in life there’s just so much that I want to do and want to accomplish, and my family has always hammered into me that hard work pays off so I just make it work,” said Jackson.