Sophomore Mia Hebinck accomplished a lot in the past 16 years of her life. Hebinck lives an extremely unique life, having to balance her busy schedule between being a student, a level 10 gymnast, sister, daughter and friend. Everyday brings a new challenge within her daily routine.
6:00 a.m.
Mia starts her day picking her outfit and getting her school supplies together. She then heads downstairs for breakfast with her mom and two siblings. They fuel their bodies with their regular breakfast consisting of eggs, bacon/sausage, yogurt, and fruit.
7:00 a.m.
Mia drives herself and her brother to school everyday. She enjoys it because it allows her to have more freedom and help her parents out, whether it’s by buying groceries or driving her siblings around. Dylan, her 14 year old brother, and Mia have their differences, but still love each other and spend a lot of time together.
7:30-11:30 a.m.
After being homeschooled for three years, Mia decided to go back to traditional school her sophomore year. She decided to attend Vista because she accomplished her biggest goal in gymnastics and was ready to gain the social life that comes with high school. Principal Michael Weaver has allowed Mia to attend the school by creating an unusual, half-day schedule. She also takes online classes in order to get her required credits. When the end of the school day rolls around, Mia finishes the school day off by going to her Calculus class. She enjoys the thrill and the feeling of accomplishment when encountering a problem and being able to find the answer. Going into a big school without knowing anyone can be tough, but a couple weeks before the homecoming dance, a group of girls invited Mia to come along. Madeline Winscott, Genevieve Geoffrion, Kailey Tatro, Sarah Grimm, Soren Brockway, Sophia Freestone, Isabel Kopelman, Riley Decesare, and Camila Fowler would all grow closer to Mia over the weeks following homecoming and would continue to grow their friendships.
12:00 p.m.
A long day at school calls for a good meal and some time to relax for a little bit. Whether enjoying lunch with her family members, school friends, or teammates, lunch is the time where she gets the opportunity to work on some homework and get ready for her gymnastics practice. Mia enjoys all foods, but her favorites are sushi, steak, and anything seafood.
12:30 p.m.-1:45 p.m.
Driving from Lone Tree to COlorado Springs might indicate a long weekend , but Hebinck and her teammate Ellie Bigner make a daily commute to their gym in Colorado Springs. The two have developed a very strong friendship over the past eight months. As a way to kill time on the way up, Mia either listens to music or talks with Ellie and her sister, Arbella.
2:00 p.m.-7:00 p.m.
Monday through Saturday, Mia practices at Colorado Aerials. Spring is competition season, so the offseason practices are based around development in four events. Practices range from five to eight hours and follow the schedule of warming up, strength conditioning, and then training for vault, bars, beam, and floor. The team consists of 14 people, all but two of them live in the Colorado Springs area. This shared drive brings the team closer to one another. Mia Hebinck dedication to gymnastics over her nine year career has enabled her to win a state and regional meet and earn second in the nation in the bars event. Mia worked hard for these titles, and continues to do so. Her favorite event is bars because she loves the feeling of flying while in the air. She is a level 10 gymnast meaning that she is the highest level in the Junior Olympics Program. Following Mia’s success, she was invited to a practice with the University of Denver gymnastics team. She knew that she wanted to be a part of the team and was offered a scholarship, knowing immediately that’s where she wanted to be. The teammates and coaches would add to this feeling with their kind, supportive, and welcoming attitude.
7:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m.
On the way home Mia unwinds and gets mentally ready to finish her day off.
8:30 p.m.-9:30/10 p.m.
After arriving at home Mia has dinner, does homework, takes a shower, and gets ready for bed. Mia’s dad is a pilot and is out of town five to seven days a week, but when he is in town, Mia gets to spend time with him during dinner and her homework time. When he is home, he enjoys cooking steak or seafood dinner for his family.
The nightly homework load for an average student is a lot, but Mia makes sure to lessen the amount of homework and the time necessary to finish it by doing as much as possible while at school, always staying ahead in her classes, and not procrastinating. Mia is working towards degrees in math and biological science, continuing into pre-med after college. She also makes time to help her 11-year-old sister, Arabella, with her homework. Arabella is currently homeschooled because of gymnastics. Being friends with your sister by choice leaves a lot of room for different memories to occur; when they were younger they would always choreograph dance routines, being the daredevils they were, Mia attempted to lift Arabella. It did not go well and Arabella was dropped into the closet, causing the two girls to laugh to the point of tears. When Mia was asked to describe her relationship with her sister, this story is what first came to mind. Their similar interests and different experiences with one another strengthens the relationship to what it is. Being a morning person, Mia tries to get to bed as early as possible so she can be rested for the next day.
There will always be the ups and downs in life and there’s nothing you can do but accept it and move on, Mia has learned that over the years through many different situations. Big or small, she conquers them all. Over the years she has had multiple injuries, but the biggest injury was when she hurt her knee. The road to recovery has been a lengthy process having her first knee surgery on November 16th, 2015 following with two other surgeries on March 8th, 2018 and April 12th, 2018. These surgeries were tough, but the real tear-jerker was that before her first surgery her surgeon said that she might not be able to come back to gymnastics and that she should find another sport while she’s ahead. Being the diligent person she is, Mia worked in physical therapy and took care of herself during recovery to the point where she was able to continue. When you’re doing something good, people are bound to notice. These people can be complete strangers or one of your best friends, Mia’s old friend from elementary school is one of the people who has noticed, “It takes a special person to be able to do all she does while being the kind person she is,” Kailey Tatro says. Everybody has their daily routine, it can seem dull and unimportant, but it’s all leading to something greater. Mia’s everyday life is taking her on the path to her dreams and her future where she is bound to shine.
