Ever since I performed in my first play at the age of seven, I knew I wanted to be an actress. As I went through life, however, I realized that it wasn’t a well-received job in terms of being successful and reliable. I was told that with the brains that I had, I could be anything I wanted: a doctor, a lawyer, even a scientist. I tried to go along with that and explored different career options in high school; as much as I tried to ignore it, though, I couldn’t shake off the feeling that theatre was where I was meant to be. So, I decided to pursue my passion and study it in college.

Originally, I thought that I needed to double major to “play it safe” and have a back up plan in case acting didn’t work out for me. I decided that I would major in Spanish as well, classes that I also enjoyed (and were good at) in high school. With plans to study abroad already in the works, I entered my sophomore year unsure if I still wanted to study Spanish that intensely, and as I grew closer with my theatre friends and professors, I realized that I was loving theatre more and more while my interest in Spanish waned. When several factors pointed to a better decision of not going abroad, I made the decision to drop Spanish to a minor and pursue theatre as my sole major with a concentration in performance and dramaturgy.

I am more than aware of the struggle that I will have to go through in order to make it as an actress. It’s going to be long and arduous, and I’m sure that there are going to be many times that I will want to give up; in fact, I’ve already had that experience as I’ve gone to auditions and been rejected. Every time that happens, though, I will always have the thought that the next audition could be “the one,” and if I miss out I would be throwing away the possibility of a successful career. I often am on the receiving end of weird looks when I tell people what I’m studying. The fun part? The fact that I know how determined I am to make this my career, and will stop at nothing until I get what I want.