When someone marvels at her day-to-day schedule and asks her how she does it, Margaret doesn't seem to understand the question. For her, there is no other way of living. "I love it" is the only explanation needed.

Margaret grew up in Boston. She remembers the exact day she realized she wanted to be an ice skater. She was only 5 years old.

"It all started one day with my friend Taylor King. We just decided to go ice skating and we both really liked it," Margaret says.

After that day, the two childhood friends convinced their parents to let them take skating lessons together. They kept that up for a while, and then Margaret says her friend eventually became more interested in skiing and went on to pursue her new love. Margaret stuck with it.

"Ever since then, I've really loved it," she says.

As Margaret got older, she continued her lessons with private coaches at the Skate Club of Boston and eventually began competing, showing a lot of promise. Years later, the Wang family decided to move to California. But first, the family knew they needed to find Margaret the best coaches possible in their new state. Through word of mouth, they heard of the coaching team of Kevin Peeks and John Brancato in the Bay Area.

Margaret's parents contacted the two coaches, and during a visit to California, they scheduled a "test" lesson with them. They were happy with what they saw in Peeks and Brancato in that session, and signed her up.

"It was a perfect fit," says Margaret. "They're both great coaches. They make a great team and they're very supportive. I've learned a lot from them."

The Wang family moved to California permanently two summers ago. After arriving, Margaret began her freshman year at Saratoga High School.

"I really love Saratoga High School," says Margaret. "It has a nice community. I've made a lot of friends; they're all great people. I think there are a lot of great opportunities there."

Despite her passion for skating and the large amount of time it consumes, Margaret takes her education very seriously.

"I really like school. I think I've always loved it," she says. "I like learning, it's fascinating. I think it's essential. I know I'll need it later in life."

Margaret's practice schedule with Peeks and Brancato leaves no room for slacking off--she keeps a strict routine of six mornings a week at Logitech ice rink in San Jose, beginning bright and early at 5 a.m. Margaret says when school is in session, the practices are around 90 minutes to two hours long. When school is out, sessions can be three full hours.

Although she admits balancing her time can be a challenge, Margaret says, "Because I really love skating, it's worth it."

Brancato, Margaret's primary coach, says he never hears a complaint from her about the amount of time she spends practicing--in fact, occasionally, when school is not in session, Margaret is more than happy to up the schedule to seven days a week.

"I've never worked with anyone quite like her. She's like a working machine. It's like she can never quite get enough information," he says. "It's the best teaching scenario you could have. She just works so hard. She's a joy."

Brancato, a former ice skating competitor himself since the age of 10, says he has been coaching full time for 15 years. He originally was based on the East Coast in New Jersey and New York City, and has been in the Bay Area since 1990. He coaches a wide variety of skaters, anywhere from age 8 all the way up to age 43 and says he coached Olympian Rudy Galindo the year he won the national championship in 1996.

Speaking of championships, Margaret has won quite a few herself.

Margaret explains that there are eight different levels a skater competes in, depending on skill and age. Currently, Margaret says she is in the next-to-highest level, junior ladies, with the highest being senior ladies. The first level of competition for a skater is regionals. The top four skaters at the regional level go on to sectionals, and the top four at sectionals go on to nationals. At nationals, the top two or three skaters at the senior level can go on to compete in the Olympics.

"When Margaret first got here, she had only competed regionally. She had never made it out of her region before," says Brancato. "In her first year, she made it to sectionals, and only missed nationals by one spot."

Margaret wasn't about to let that happen a second time--this year, she wowed the judges, taking first place in regionals, and third place in sectionals.

"This year, she made it all the way to nationals," Brancato says.

Going to nationals for the first time was thrilling, Margaret says. The competition took place a few weeks ago in Portland.

"It was a great experience. I learned a lot. And I got to see Michelle Kwan up close," she says, describing what it was like to see her favorite skater in the flesh. Margaret says some of her other favorite skaters are Sasha Cohen from the United States and Alexei Yagudin of Russia.

Margaret says skaters perform two routines in competition--the short program and the long program. Her short program is a little more than 2 ¹/2 minutes long and her long program is about 3 ¹/2 minutes. This year she skated to Rachmaninoff and music from Pinocchio. She took 10th place in both programs, earning her the 11th overall slot in the nation for junior ladies.

Despite how bright her future looks as a competitive ice skater, Margaret says she takes things one day at a time. She says she doesn't have any specific goals and never really thinks about making it to the Olympics, although she doesn't know why.

"Throughout my skating life--my journey--I've just thought about being myself and doing the best I can," she says, adding that perhaps one goal might be to make it to nationals again next year and do even better.

Brancato seems to support Margaret's philosophy.

"She can go as far as she wants. To her, I think it's just to be the best she can be," he says. "To be a consistent national performer is very possible for her. "

Although it is still a few years away, Margaret says she also thinks about college.

"I think [a good education] is important for the future. If you're educated, I think you can affect the world, have an impact," she says.

Although spare time is not abundant for her, Margaret says she enjoys going out to dinner and to the movies with friends and family when she is not skating or studying. She says other passions for her include singing in the Saratoga High School choir and helping to promote awareness of sudden cardiac arrest.

"My teacher's spouse, Kathleen Davey, went into a coma because she had a sudden cardiac arrest which made me really sad," she says. After hearing the news of Davey's condition, Margaret says she read a newspaper article about a man who survived a sudden cardiac arrest because an automated external defibrillator was used on him.

According to the American Heart Association, sudden cardiac arrest is one of the leading causes of death in the U.S., claiming around 400,000 lives per year, and automated external defibrillators can increase survival rates up to 90 percent.

Last year, Margaret helped organize a skate-a-thon to raise money for the American Heart Association, American Heart Society and Kathleen Davey. She plans on holding it again this year, and says the event will most likely take place in May.

How will she find time for a skate-a-thon in her life full of school and skating? For Margaret Wang, it's just part of her day-to-day schedule.