To most students at Staples High School, waking up at eight, traveling to the city and doing what you love every day seems like some sort of fantasy. But for Isabella Corridon ’19, it’s reality.

As a student at JKO school, a highly competitive ballet school of American Ballet Theater, Corridon is required to travel into New York City every day, preventing her from going to a normal high school.

“I went to Staples for two weeks; for those two weeks I didn’t have any ballet. But after my ballet started and I was discharged from Staples […] they said I couldn’t go to Staples if I was leaving at 12 every day, ” Isabella Corridon ’19 said.

In the eighth grade, Corridon was accepted halfway through the school year. It is extremely difficult to get into the competitive JKO school, but they noticed her.

“I did their summer intensive, and I applied to be looked at to go year round, and then at the end of the summer I got accepted,” Corridon said.

Instead of going to Staples, Corridon stays at home and does online school through Indiana University. She works on the computer for three hours every day.

Unlike many students at Staples, school work is not Corridon’s main concern. In fact, she doesn’t plan on going to college at all.

“No. I don’t — I do not [want to go to college]. I’m getting my high school diploma and college credits through my online school,” Corridon said.

As an aspiring ballerina, college is not a necessity. Corridon’s main goal is to get into the company of American Ballet Theater, and at the rate she is going, she will reach it. Currently, she is in level six, and if she moves up she will be in level seven next year. At this level, the students are in the “studio company” which is an apprentice position in the overall company of ABT.

“If I keep moving up then I’ll be in the company when I’m 16 or 17. That’s what I want more than anything. Ever,” Corridon said

She isn’t the only member of her family to feel this way. Both of her parents are completely in support of this decision. They have faith that Corridon is working hard and will eventually achieve her dream.

“I believe, like anything in life you choose to pursue as a career, if you have the discipline to consistently work hard at getting better every day, have clear goals and the determination to reach them, but above all love what you do, you can make your dream a reality,” Rita Corridon, Isabella’s mother, said.

According to Gillian Kudwitt ’19, Corridon’s friend and fellow ballerina, Corridon has potential.

“I think that she could definitely become a professional ballerina because of where she’s training currently. But she will need to work really hard like she is right now in order to achieve that goal,” Kudwitt said.

However, Corridon’s three younger brothers feel differently. They think she shouldn’t go to New York City every day, but this is mainly due to the fact that they barely see her. Corridon wakes up after they leave for school and arrives back home after they have gone to bed.

“I don’t see my brothers very often […] I’ve heard a few times that they miss me and they wish I was around more,”  Isabella Corridon says.

Corridon’s friends from school also never get the chance to see her.

“I definitely wish I could see her more because I don’t see her every day during the week like I used to… I’m lucky enough to see her once a week, but my other friends don’t have the chance to see her ever,” Kudwitt said.

Although this may seem like a perfect situation, there are some aspects of high school that Corridon will never experience.

“I wish I could go to school dances, and I could go to Prom and Counties and stuff,” Corridon said.

But she’ll be doing enough dancing without it.