Nothing Like the Sun” appears as the fifth segment of a DVD compilation of the 2006 – 2007 finals that was released that November for schools and teachers. In June 2008, Strong graduated from high school, where she was that school's final salutatorian before it was converted to Union Hill Middle School. Following graduation, she attended the Cali School of Music at Montclair State University, where she majored in musical theater. In September 2008, Strong participated in the NEA's Sixth Annual Poetry Pavilion at the National Book Festival. On March 28 and April 5, 2009 she played Jo March in a production of Little Women at the Studio Playhouse in Montclair, New Jersey. Professional career In 2009, Strong read about an open casting call in an issue of Backstage for a production of Bye Bye Birdie. Strong slept on the street for hours in a sleeping bag in front of the Roundabout Theatre Company in order to audition, an act that she saw as the start of her professional career. On May 5, 2009, on the same day Strong's maternal grandmother died in Colombia, came the bittersweet news that Strong was cast in the ensemble, as a member of the chorus and in the role of Helen Miller, one of the friends of the cast's female lead, Kim McAfee. The show, which starred John Stamos, was produced at the Henry Miller's Theatre in Manhattan, and debuted on October 15 of that year, marking Strong's Broadway debut. Commented Strong, "I'm making my Broadway debut at the same age Julie Andrews and Liza Minnelli did. To get my big break so young…is a little frightening, but it assures me that performing is what I was born to do.” Strong took a six-month break from school in order to focus on rehearsals. To promote the show, Strong and her castmates performed their rendition of the song “Honestly Sincere” on the morning TV show Good Morning America. In 2010, during her freshman year at Montclair, Strong was a writer for Backstage magazine's "Take 5" column. As of 2010, Strong has performed solo for every governor of New Jersey since Christie Todd Whitman, as well as at the White House, and for Colombian President Álvaro Uribe. On May 27, 2011, Strong sang at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's Victoria Theater as part of the 2011 NJN Hispanic Youth Showcase, in celebration of the Showcase's