I’m a senior at the Global Studies and World Languages Academy at Tallwood. I was accepted into the Visual and Performing Arts Academy because I want to be an actress, but I really wanted something that was going to give me a new perspective on education and expand my horizons. That’s really what it did. It opened up the door to a lot of different things. We’re really encouraged to explore ourselves as well as the world. So when we look at the world, we have to be introspective while we’re trying to be empathetic and culturally relative.
I want to be a lot of things. I want to be an actress, a forensic psychologist, a black rights activist and, hopefully, a philanthropist but that kind of depends on wealth, I guess.
My mom and I watch a lot of crime shows. My mom is really into the forensics part because she is a nurse. I just want to know: Why? What makes people do the things they do? What drives them to that? I just like probing people’s minds. I want to know what could have led up to that because everything is related. That is another thing the academy really reinforces in me: to link things, to see the pattern, not to think things happen in isolation.
What about acting?
Being onstage is the most complex mix of emotions because it’s thrilling. I love being onstage. I love creating a whole person — then I’m terrified. I look out and I see faces, because you can see people out there. You just have to put that away and say that I’m not going out as me, I’m going out as this character. It’s a wonderful experience. I want to do film but I’ve done theater since I was 8.
Seeing that I want to go into forensic psychology and I want to be an actress, you’re probably wondering what made me want to volunteer at this STEM camp. I think every student should have an opportunity to explore new things. I think you never know who is going to walk out of this STEM camp and change the world. My elementary school really encouraged us to explore STEM as well and brought a lot of things to us. That’s why I really love education. I’ve had some really great instructors and I think this STEM camp makes STEM seem fun. They can see that there are so many facets to these different subjects. They are enjoying themselves and I think there are going to be a lot of students who walk away and link this to their life someday.
#WeAreVBSchools
