Balancing Act: Teen would endure anything, even a 6-hour commute to school, to dance ballet

Every weekday, Zachary Jeppsen boards the 6:22 a.m. train at the Harvard Metra station near the border of Illinois and Wisconsin for an hour-and-39-minute ride to Chicago - no small commitment for a high school junior.

And that's only half of his commute.

Zachary lives on a small farm near Whitewater, Wis. He leaves home by 5:30 a.m., hops a ride with one of his parents to the Harvard train, decamps at Ogilvie Transportation Center, boards a school bus and arrives by 8:30 a.m. at The Chicago Academy for the Arts, where he takes a full load of college-preparatory classes and works toward his dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer.