After I got my revised schedule the first day of school my sophomore year, I saw a class that I didn’t realize would change my life, my friends and even my personality forever.

To start off, if you asked me what I wanted to be freshman year I would have probably said something along the lines of “An engineer, don’t ask what kind.” However after taking a whopping four Ben Barber electives, three of which were engineering related, I very lightly and kindly took the chapter of my life named engineering, tore it out, and threw it to the bottom of the ocean never to be seen again.

Now with no idea what I was going to do with my life, I found myself in a chair across from my counselor picking out my schedule for the fall semester of my sophomore year. Sitting in a blank daze I hear her voice, grabbing my attention like a fishing hook. I’m pulled back to reality, suddenly I hear her say I need a fine arts credit and she recommends Theater 1 because her daughter took and loved the class. My mind wanders off to a certain memory from a few weeks prior in which my older sister says to me and I quote, “You act so much like a theater kid.” At that point I had no idea what she meant. My best thought of what a theater kid was from “High School Musical” in which case I was quite scared to go against the status quo. But, beyond all that I saw the other options for fine arts and simply thought, it can’t be that bad. So, clearly even if a just a bit begrudgingly, I said, “sure why not.” 

Walking down the fine arts hallway for the first time, as a sophomore, was a weird experience. It felt so open and honestly just had a whole different look to it. Eventually I found my class and walked into a noisy room crammed full of people who from what I could tell did not want to be there.

I took my seat, which happened to be the one closest to the teacher, and looked at this teacher. My first reaction to this woman is crazy. She introduces herself and just starts rambling on about her little quirks and how much fun this class would be. The more she went on the more I felt her dedication to actually wanting us to learn and love theater.

After a week she told us about improv auditions. I see it and think maybe I’ll try it out but everyone in the class seems so uninterested. So, when she asks if we have any questions I don’t raise my hand. I was scared of becoming the outcast, that one theater kid. Still after class I stick around and wait for everyone to leave to ask the teacher if I should try out. She very ecstatically said, “Yeah you should totally try out.” I walked out of that room with a smile ready to see what theater was all about.

I’m going to skip the audition process because I can summarize almost all of my auditions the same way. I was nervous, overcame those nerves right before I got up, then thought about how I could have done better.

During my first show is where I really found my place. I was cast as a Zani (basically a jokester). However even though I had a small role everyone was so nice to me. I saw for the first time how people came together on the stage, how a family was made by a shared love of theater. 

And after our first show in front of and audience I realized that acting was a way I could want to go in life. Because I’ve always just wanted to see people and I never seen smiles so bright, as they are on stage. 

The more shows I did, the more friends I made, and life became a whole lot more fun. I was that one theatre kid in a class room now and I wasn’t afraid to act like it. 

Now I have my whole life ahead of me and whether I do acting or not after high school I’m excited for the road ahead.