When Mia Clark moved to the Farm from San Diego three years ago, she assumed that fear – of failure, of making mistakes, or of letting others down – was the path to excellence.

Whenever she received a top grade, scored a goal for her field hockey team, or received an accolade, she says, there was a little voice telling her she better not slip up.

“I came to Stanford with the mindset that if I was two minutes late for class, the world was going to end,” said Clark, a junior majoring in comparative studies in race and ethnicity, who was recently named captain of Stanford’s women’s field hockey team. “I was worried that people were going to think I’m an awful student.”

It wasn’t until field hockey coach Roz Ellis encouraged her to explore other interests that Clark finally found an outlet for some of that fear: dance.

“Field hockey has tested my limits, and I’m thankful it has because I’m mentally and physically so much stronger than I’ve ever been before, and it’s very cool and empowering to be able to say that,” Clark said. At the same time, she said, “I definitely crave a space that allows you to just show up as you are.”

In dance, she said, “you don’t necessarily have to come locked in, you don’t have to apply some sort of strategy. You can just come and dance at whatever energy level you’re at and the people around you will accept that and match that.”

In addition to her commitments as a student-athlete, Clark is part of three active dance groups on campus, including Alliance, a hip-hop dance team she joined her freshman year; FreeFlow, Stanford’s only freestyle dance team; and Traction Modern Dance, which she joined recently.

Tapping into both the athletic and artistic sides of herself has taught her a lot about balance, purpose and perseverance, she said – all of which have strengthened her as a student and a person.

“I think what athletics and the art scene here at Stanford has done is unraveled my fears and surrounded me with confidence, empowerment, warmth and the permission to let go and be free,” she said. “I’ve been able to open up, embrace and receive and I think that’s changed me as a thinker and a learner.”