a) What experience in high school has mattered most to you? How do you see this experience influence your decision making in college?
Just two more events to go…Just two…
“And Hesperia wins first place!”
“Ugh...they won again!” My teacher grunted. I was too nervous to think anything about Hesperia’s five first place. I was trying to keep my nerves down before my event came.
“First place…HESPERIA!”
Not again…Now I am getting a little annoyed by them. This wasn’t looking too good.
Finally, my event was called and I could feel my heart pounding and my legs giving way. Luckily, with the help of my teammates, I made it to the stage. We held our hands and bowed our heads as we waited for the honorable mentions...
Ever since 6th grade, I have been in love with acting ,it was not until the 8th grade I started performing on stage. I had a wonderful teacher who always kept the class fun and engaging and has greatly influenced my choice of continuing acting in high school.
When I got to high school, my drive to become an actress lessened. I received many disappointing roles but due to I kept screwing up in auditions and expecting the teacher to just hand over the good parts to me. Every time I got up there, my voice would give out, or I would be so scared and mess up the lines. I always kept thinking, “There’s better people than me”. You know those kinds of thoughts; I went from getting lead parts in the play to basically a nobody. I was not satisfied with these roles and I never did anything about it until my junior year when I tried out for Anything Goes. I knew I had to give it my all since it was my favorite musical and did not want to miss the opportunity of being part of it. Yet again to my disappointment, I received another “small” part in the play.
At the start of my senior year, our school hired another drama teacher. I knew this was my chance to start over. My college counselor told me many good things about her and I signed up for her Musical theatre workshop class. I realized that if I were going to get any good parts, I would need to learn how to sing and audition better.
From day one, I got the same impression of her as I did my middle school drama teacher. I could tell right from the start she would bring something extra to our drama department. I really admired her because she reached out to me unlike the pervious drama teacher. She just came up to me and demanded, “Why did you try out for my play? I heard many good things about you!” I was shocked. I didn’t even think about the play since I was not in her sixth period Play Production class. But because I was in her fifth period, I was given another chance to try out. I saw this as a test to see if I was willing to try out again even after so many failed attempts of I knew that I could not disappoint the new teacher, but above all, I could not bear to disappoint myself again by holding back.
This time, I was not disappointed. I got the part of Elma in Bus Stop, a part that I tried out for and to my surprise, I even got a call back for the female lead. Ms. Stanley continued to open the doors for me and inspired many new members to come and join the theatre which is how I got involved in DTASC. DTASC or Drama Teacher Association of Southern California, is a state wide competition where schools compete in different categories and events such as Large group drama and comedy. She wanted to do a musical number with an Asian girl in it and she immediately came up to me to see if I would do it. I jumped at the opportunity and immediately said yes. Soon after I was grouped with the most amazing cast and we hit it off right away.
For the next month, we worked hard on our songs but I hit another milestone. I begin to lose confidence in myself because I did not perform as well as the rest of the group. I saw myself as the weak link but with the help of my friends and Ms. Stanley, I overcame my insecurities and realized I was just as talented as every member in my team.
Finally the day of the competition arrived and I was ready. Our group were nervous but the moment we started singing, everything just fell into place. We passed the semi-finals round and moved onto the finals.
“WE PLACED!”
I didn’t realize we won until my teammate went up to get our trophy. I didn’t care what place we got, because we came this far and we beat the odds. We never expected to make it this far for our first time competing.
From mediocre parts to stumbling lines, I will never forget the hardships I went through to get this point. I see my struggles as my strength, something I will always remember when times are hard, rough and hopeless especially now during my senior year with the college applications. I used to be terrified of not getting accepted by my number one choice just as I was afraid of auditioning in front of the judges. The fours year of preparing for college is the song I have practiced for hours and hours on end. I could either choke or sing to the best of my abilities by leaving all insecurities and doubts at the door. Though this is easier said than done, I have overcame these fears with the constant motivation to achieve a dream and the power to overcome any trying matter.