Running up and down the court, sweat dripping down her face, the clock ticking down second by second. The intensity of playing basketball has motivated junior Jordan Lopez-Rhodes to be the best that she can be on and off the court.

“I’ve been playing basketball since I was four and it has been my rock,” Jordan said. “The game just comes naturally [to me].”

With basketball as such an influential part of her life, Jordan said her coach has to constantly remind her that everyone has to get back up again once they fall.

“Because I’m so hard on myself, my coach just tells me if I make a mistake to let it go,” Jordan says. “She says ‘relax, just be confident in yourself.’”

The positive reminders that Jordan receives from her coach inspire her to be an inspiration for others. One way Jordan does this is by coaching little kids in the community.

“I’m a volunteer coach at the College Station League for girl’s volleyball and at the Lincoln Center for basketball,” Jordan said.

Although coaching and working with kids has helped Jordan develop her leadership skills, she says the most rewarding thing about the process is seeing the kids develop their skills.

“I like teaching somebody what I know and then seeing them grow,” Jordan said.

Along with being active in the community, being heavily involved on campus is a way that Jordan is able to expand her leadership qualities. One group that Jordan has joined this year is the Remix dance group in which she practices her leadership skills.

“Sometimes, you just have to take the initiative and say, ‘this is what we’re going to do,’” Jordan said.

By being active in these two organizations, Jordan says that her people skills have evolved far beyond what she ever thought they could. Jordan is grateful for these skills and says that they will help her throughout her life.

“[Being involved] challenges how well you collaborate with others,” Jordan said.

This collaboration came into play recently in her life. Jordan was featured on an episode of Quiero Mis Quinces on MTV Tres that aired on October 22, 2012 which documented Jordan and her family preparing for her quinceñera two summers ago.

“I actually didn’t even know I was signed up for it,” Jordan said. “My mom said, ‘well, I’m going to sign her up. What are the chances?’ And it wasn’t until we got the email that said, ‘Hey, Jordan, we’re about to call you and interview you for the cast’ [that I knew she signed me up].”

Jordan found out that being followed by a camera crew for a majority of the day was not as glamorous as it seems.

“If you had to go to the bathroom, you had to take off your microphone and do all of this [stuff] just to go pee for like 30 seconds,” Jordan said. “They were kind of annoying, but it was kind of cool.”

Towards the end, the process was especially stressful for Jordan because of the perfection that the producers needed.

“The day before my quince, they had to change up the song mix, so we had to work around that the night before,” Jordan said. “And then the day of [my quince] when we did the dance, the lights cut off so they were like ‘oh, we might have to do it again,’ but thankfully we didn’t.”

Throughout all the stress, Jordan never lost her positive attitude. However, Jordan is experiencing a similar predicament with deciding what to do after high school.

“Hopefully I’ll get a scholarship to go to a college for basketball,” Jordan said. “After that, I have to decide if I want to go to physical therapy school or medical school.”

Although she has an idea of what field she wants to go into, Jordan says that in regards to her profession, she is uncertain.

“I don’t know what I want to become,” Jordan said. “I just like everything about the human body.”

No matter what she goes through, Jordan knows that she has to remain positive.

“It’s very important to me to be that positive light,” Jordan said.