An accomplished musician, Valerie may seem like a normal twenty year old college student. However, she has invisible disabilities as a result of being a preemie baby. Valerie explains what “parts” she has missing and what she has to do on a daily basis just to function. Her story will make us all a bit more compassionate. Valerie Kosson, 20, is a Music Performance major at Lebanon Valley College. She began studying piano, snare and bells, and marimba during elementary school, received the “Outstanding Band Student of the Year” award in middle school, and went on to play with the York Junior Symphony Orchestra at Penn State York. Valerie traveled and competed with her award-winning high school marching band for four years. During her last two summers of high school, she competed in Drum Corps International, performing with the Raiders Drum and Bugle Corps. Valerie was inducted into the National Honors Society in her sophomore year. She graduated from Susquehannock High School Magna Cum Laude in 2017. Val won first place in both the Keystone Indoor Drumline Association solo percussion competition and the Tri-M Music Honor Society Concerto competition playing marimba. Valerie is currently a member of the Lebanon Valley College marching band, choir, hand-bell choir ensemble, and percussion ensemble. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at www.ted.com/tedx