My greatest fear in life has always been being forgotten. So many people are forgotten, so many people shuffle through life without making an impact, they leave no waves behind, and you ask yourself ‘Would the world be any different if they never arrived? I don’t want this for my life. I want to leave a lasting legacy behind, I want people to remember me for the passion I brought into my craft, but also for the things I did outside of my art. This desire to build a long-lasting legacy is actually my second why; the first is simple love. This is why I wanted to study drama, so I could perfect my craft as much as I possibly could and become a great actor. I'm currently going into my junior year at New York University, and the training I've received here has been incredible. I'm glad I decided to attend the university because I had originally decided not to due to the school's $100k/year tuition. While paying for my education has been a huge stressor for me the past couple of years, I've learned to take the good with the bad. The strides I've made in my acting since the Fall of 2024 are inspiring to me. I've come so far in such a short time that I've even started teaching drama on a small scale. More than the training I received, I also found my home in New York City, and a place I finally feel I belong. A place where I feel wanted and appreciated, and people around me who see my potential and that I am lucky to be able to call my friends. I didn't have the easiest time in high school, and going to a school where not a lot of people looked like me had major effects on my social life and greater socialization skills. However things turned around for me here in college, and I found my group, one that I'm very grateful for - and that constantly pushes me to strive to be a better artist each day. I hope to one day make theater and performing arts more accessible in lower-income neighborhoods and schools. Community theaters are few and far between, especially in low-income areas. Performing arts is an area that should be included, or at least available as an option, in every curriculum. There are so many young people who could benefit tremendously just from having an outlet to express their creativity. I believe the arts are a vital facet of any education: it expands your perspective, allows you to see the world differently, and can benefit students in ways completely unrelated to drama.

I didn't have very many friends throughout middle school and high school. I skipped my junior and senior year prom, and I barricaded myself in my bedroom when it was time to go back to in-person learning after covid. Needless to say, I've always been a very introverted and socially anxious person. I keep to myself, and I don't make myself seen unless absolutely necessary. This is all a true assessment of who I am: except when I'm on stage. When I'm onstage I can be loud, confident, and the center of attention. I can roar, scream, participate in sword fights, and bear my soul out in front of an audience - as long as I have a character to hide behind. I would say acting is my passion, but it is so much more than that to me. It helps me live, it's therapeutic. It allows me to say things I wish I could say in my own life. It allows me to show sides of myself that I keep very tightly under wraps - usually out of fear of judgement. I don't know when I started to become drawn to acting. To be honest, I feel strongly as if I were born this way. I don't remember a point in my life where I didn't want to be in movies and act. There was no specific moment where I said "this is what I'll do with my life". It was just a given. I will however say that my first time being on a set was pivotal to my journey with acting. I was granted the opportunity to be an extra on a show called 'Mare of Easttown' starring Kate Winslet my sophomore year of high school. I was incredibly anxious in anticipation for the job: I was terrified that it was going to be nothing like I'd expected, that I wouldn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped for, and that my future dreams would be crushed in the realization that this field wasn't the place for me. As an extra, your job is to be background noise, ambiance in support of the main focal object - which in this case was Kate Winslet's character listening to a church sermon. And background noise I was, for 6 hours I sat in a church pew, with 150 other extras, and looked ahead. I will never forget the experience - because I loved every single second of it. Watching the makeup crew touch-up actors during cuts, seeing the videographers walk around with their cameras, the audio crew holding boom mics over the principal actors speaking. I felt like I belonged there, and was greatly affirmed in my beliefs of my place in this industry. I don't know what I would do without this art form, and I am incredibly grateful to it, and the opportunity I have to pursue it.

I didn't have very many friends throughout middle school and high school. I skipped my junior and senior year prom, and I barricaded myself in my bedroom when it was time to go back to in-person learning after covid. Needless to say, I've always been a very introverted and socially anxious person. I keep to myself, and I don't make myself seen unless absolutely necessary. This is all a true assessment of who I am: except when I'm on stage. When I'm onstage I can be loud, confident, and the center of attention. I can roar, scream, participate in sword fights, and bear my soul out in front of an audience - as long as I have a character to hide behind. I would say acting is my passion, but it is so much more than that to me. It helps me live, it's therapeutic. It allows me to say things I wish I could say in my own life. It allows me to show sides of myself that I keep very tightly under wraps - usually out of fear of judgement. I don't know when I started to become drawn to acting. To be honest, I feel strongly as if I were born this way. I don't remember a point in my life where I didn't want to be in movies and act. There was no specific moment where I said "this is what I'll do with my life". It was just a given. I will however say that my first time being on a set was pivotal to my journey with acting. I was granted the opportunity to be an extra on a show called 'Mare of Easttown' starring Kate Winslet my sophomore year of high school. I was incredibly anxious in anticipation for the job: I was terrified that it was going to be nothing like I'd expected, that I wouldn't enjoy it as much as I had hoped for, and that my future dreams would be crushed in the realization that this field wasn't the place for me. As an extra, your job is to be background noise, ambiance in support of the main focal object - which in this case was Kate Winslet's character listening to a church sermon. And background noise I was, for 6 hours I sat in a church pew, with 150 other extras, and looked ahead. I will never forget the experience - because I loved every single second of it. Watching the makeup crew touch-up actors during cuts, seeing the videographers walk around with their cameras, the audio crew holding boom mics over the principal actors speaking. I felt like I belonged there, and was greatly affirmed in my beliefs of my place in this industry. I don't know what I would do without this art form, and I am incredibly grateful to it, and the opportunity I have to pursue it.

My passion for the performing arts predates any exposure to it within the classroom. However, the education I received in the arts pushed me to continue my pursuit of it, and nurtured my overall creativity throughout high school. Michael Grant Terry, my senior year acting teacher/mentor, was a mentor of mine who pushed me the most to pursue my craft in further education. I was fortunate enough to have the alumni relations director at my high school connect him to me for one-on-one extracurricular class with him. Michael was a regular on the show Bones and had been in the industry since his early 20s. Never before had I been in contact with someone within the industry, from whom I could pick their brain and seek guidance. Someone who had gone to college for drama, worked full-time as a professional actor, and was also doing quite well for themselves. Michael gave me insight into how to find a good agent, the work ethic required to be an actor, and the first comprehensive teaching of acting I’d ever received up until that point. He also alleviated many of the fears I held regarding pursuing acting as a profession. The stark truth is that acting is not the career for those looking for safety, it is highly competitive and work is inconsistent. Most actors are struggling and don’t ever reach the point where they’re able to work as performers full-time. Nonetheless, looking at Mike, who was a full-time actor living in LA, I asked myself: If he could do it, why can’t I? Knowing that he had walked the same halls as me at Germantown Friends - it made my aspirations that much more tangible to me, they were achievable, and here is the proof. I'm aware of the incredible privilege I had in going to the high school I did and having the connections associated with that school. I’ve lived in public housing my entire life, we are currently on food stamps; I would not have attended the high school I did had my parents had to pay out of pocket. Getting a scholarship to go to a $40k Quaker private school exposed me to a lot of things I hadn’t seen before, and would not have seen otherwise. Good and bad. Going to a PWI in high school came with many struggles for me, I experienced a lot of alienation and battled with my identity for a long time. Although, I know that you must always take the bitter with the sweet. Despite the personal tribulations I had to go through during high school, I walked away from it with incredible connections, and an exposure to theater I likely would not have had in my neighborhood school. This is the exact reason why I hope to one day make theater and performing arts more accessible in lower-income neighborhoods and schools. Community theaters are few and far between, especially in low-income areas. I want other kids from similar circumstances to be able to have the same mentorship and access to theater that I had. Performing arts is an area that should be included, or at least available as an option, in every curriculum. There are so many young people who could benefit tremendously just from having an outlet to express their creativity. I believe the arts are a vital facet of any education: it expands your perspective, allows you to see the world differently, and can benefit students in ways completely unrelated to drama. All I hope to do is share the same opportunities given to me with others.

Hello there :) My name is Dante, I was born in Philadelphia, and have called that place home for the majority of my life. It wasn’t until I came to New York City for college that I realized Philadelphia is just the city where I was born. It’s important to me, I have many warm memories there, and most of my family still lives there, but it is not my home. My home is New York. New York is where I feel I belong, it is where I feel I have a space as a creative. A place where I’m accepted and given room to flourish in my artistic pursuits. This is something I realized at the end of my freshmen year here at NYU. I am currently a drama major in my sophomore year. I like to say I’ve always known I wanted to pursue acting, but who knows when it started. I don’t have a “one day I was…blah blah blah and then bam!” story about when I realized my love for acting. If anything it was more of a gradual pull, a tether attached to me and this craft that has always been there, slowly pulling me closer. I will say getting to perform in a few of my high school theater productions were all highlights for me in my artistic journey. At the same time, there were aspects of high school that were difficult for me. I went to Germantown Friends School, a predominantly-white institution, where my economic background differed greatly from that of many of my peers. I struggled a lot socially and in terms of my identity, never truly feeling as if I fit into the community there. I do appreciate my time at the school though, if I had gone to my neighborhood school I would've never gotten the chance to be involved in any theatrical productions; I wouldn't have even been exposed to the world of theater because those opportunities were not available at my neighborhood school. This is part of the reason why I am focused on one day making theater and performing arts more accessible in lower-income neighborhoods and schools. Community theaters are few and far between, especially in low-income areas. Performing arts is an area that should be included, or at least available as an option, in every curriculum. There are so many young people who could benefit tremendously just from having an outlet to express their creativity. I believe the arts are a vital facet of any education: it expands your perspective, allows you to see the world differently, and can benefit students in ways completely unrelated to drama. These opportunities should be available to all students, regardless of economic background.

I would one day like to bring free Tai Chi education to low-income neighborhoods and communities for those who are BIPOC. Through Tai Chi - which was a core part of my studio training in my first year at NYU Tisch - I learned healthy ways of dealing with stress, negative events and energy, and how to adapt to changing circumstances, which is the definition of life. The reason Tai Chi has been so useful to me is because of its convenience and accessibility. I can do my Tai Chi form wherever I may be, for whatever I may need it for. If I am going through a stressful event or am just in need of something to clear my head. The skills and practices I picked up from it have honestly changed my life. I have practiced my form daily since the end of my freshman year and have even shared what I've learned with my family and friends. While it is not the golden key to solving all of life's difficulties and stressors, it is an incredibly useful tool for mental health used by over 250 million people worldwide. It is also wildly more accessible than services like counseling and therapy, which many do not have the money to afford.

My father has owned his own photography business for the past 20 years; growing up he instilled in me a desire to be my own boss, make my own schedule, and craft my own future. I saw him struggle greatly, I saw the difficulty that came with being your own boss - pay was inconsistent, all the responsibilities of the business fall on to you, and at times it is even necessary to take on an extra job. Throughout all of this, I never saw my dad have to pull himself out of bed, he never looked bored of his life - he loved what he did and wouldn't take on a regular 9-5 job just to be comfortable. So many people force themselves to walk into jobs they hate with every bone in their body, and it slowly drains them of life. I experienced this to a much smaller degree in the summer of 2016 when I interned at a real estate company. The only reason I continued going was because I enjoyed spending money, but every day was a fight to get myself out of bed, I hated walking into that office every day for another 6 hours of data entry. When the summer ended I told myself I would never again go to a job that made me feel that way, the money will never be worth the life I must exchange for it. Not only did I receive my passion for entrepreneurship from my father, but I also received help to start my first business from him. When I was around 10 years old we started buying candy in bulk and selling it at our church every Sunday. I would go around with a blue container that had Werthers, butter scotches, and caramel candies inside of it. This was my first experience with entrepreneurship, and it felt good to be running my own business with my dad, no matter how small. At 17, I started an LLC in order to start selling hair products online through Shopify. The experience was bittersweet. I invested a lot of the money I'd saved up until that point into my online store, and while I did make revenue, I was unable to make a profit with the business. However, the fact that I made revenue was enough to instill in me with confidence that it was possible, the business was viable. My first passion will always be the arts and performance. I love being on the stage, experimenting with new characters, becoming different people. That being said, acting is not a profession for those looking to make a lot of money. Many actors are struggling and are required to work part-time jobs in order to make ends meet. My game plan for many years has been to become financially comfortable through entrepreneurship, particularly dropshipping - so that I then may be able to pursue acting without fear. Full force. I see entrepreneurship as the key to my freedom, the freedom to follow my dreams.

There is no exact moment in time where I can pin down the origin of my passion for the performing arts, I believe it was more of a gradual change than a specific event. I can however pin down the exact moment that I knew I belonged in entertainment. It was the first time I had ever stepped foot on a film set. I was granted the opportunity to be an extra on a show called 'Mare of Easttown' starring Kate Winslet my sophomore year of high school. I had been recently notified of a website people could log onto in order to be an extra in local film and television productions. Acting had been the love of my life for years prior to this point, I had been involved in multiple school productions, acquired an agent, and taken a few courses in acting by this time. Although, I had never before been on a set, never once actually stepped foot on a professional shoot of any kind. I was anxious in anticipation for the job, I was terrified that it was going to be nothing like I'd expected and that my future dreams would be crushed by the realization that this field wasn't the place for me. As an extra, your job is to be background noise and ambiance in support of the main focal object - which in this case was Kate Winslet's character listening to a church sermon. And background noise I was, for 6 hours I sat in a church pew, with 150 other extras, and looked ahead. I will never forget the experience - because I loved every single second of it. Watching the makeup crew touch-up actors during cuts, seeing the videographers walk around with their cameras, the audio crew holding boom mics over the principal actors speaking - I felt like I belonged there, and was greatly affirmed in my belief of my place in this industry. I am fortunate to be going into my second year at NYU Tisch. The skills and techniques I've acquired over the past 10 months have been invaluable, and it's baffling to think about how close I was to not attending college for an abundance of reasons, most notably the $90k price tag attached to NYU. I am so glad I went though, and am especially thankful to my mother for pushing me to pursue a college education. Without my studio training, I would've been vastly underprepared to ever pursue a career in the arts, but beyond that, I developed so much as a person in ways I would not have otherwise. In my Tai Chi course, I gained techniques to deal with stress and negative energy in healthy ways, in my acting classes I learned how to begin the long arduous process of stripping away all the inhibitions and I also would not have learned the versatile skills My goals in the near future are to take advantage of the opportunities I have while in NYC - by far the best city for an actor to be in on the east coast. Now that I'm more accustomed to NYC and my campus, I'd like to start going out for more professional jobs. I feel as if it'd be a huge waste of an opportunity to not try to act professionally while in this city, as long as it doesn't interfere with my studio training.

My greatest fear in life has always been being forgotten. So many people are forgotten, so many people shuffle through life without making an impact, they leave no waves behind, and you ask yourself ‘Would the world be any different if they never arrived? I don’t want this for my life. I want to leave a lasting legacy behind, I want people to remember me for the passion I brought into my craft, but also for the things I did outside of my art. This desire to build a long-lasting legacy is actually my second why; the first is simple love. I love acting, I need it, I couldn't imagine my life without it. It is something I would never have to get paid for - which works out since acting is not the profession for those looking to swim in money - because it is what gives my life purpose. I've gone through different phases in my life, different career interests such as turf grass management, real estate, I even wanted to be an mma fighter for a month until I realized it wouldn't be very fun getting punched in the face for a living. Inevitably, my interest in these fields would always fade and dissipate. The only constant, the only thing I always found my way back to was acting. I started taking classes when I was 14, got my first agent when I was in high school, and am currently about to enter my second year at NYU Tisch. There is one project that I've had my eyes set on for quite a number of years - a movie telling the story of Robert Johnson, a blues musician from the early 20s who was rumoured to have made a deal with the devil in exchange for incredible musical skill. The story has always captivated me, and it has been a passion project of mine to create a dramatic retelling of the tale. I am currently writing the screenplay for the film, but am nowhere near finished bringing the project to fruition. I plan to take additional classes in filmmaking at NYU while here. I don't want to limit myself to acting, I have many ideas waiting to be released in the form of fashion, art, films, and music. I want to be a multi-hyphenated artist and push myself in each field I choose to venture into.

By far the biggest obstacle I've had to overcome in my life - and one I've made much progress with but am still climbing - is the search for my identity. Grades 6-12 I attended a private Quaker school; Germantown Friends. It was a school my mother had aspirations of attending in her youth but was not able to get in to. I was fortunate enough to get a scholarship to attend the institution, I received a phenomenal education at the school, but also had some of my most difficult years there. I lived, and still do live in public housing, my father and I are on food stamps. Attending GFS, I was surrounded by people who came from vastly different backgrounds than I. At least in my public neighborhood school we were all generally in the same boat, coming from the same economic backgrounds. But at GFS, I was the outlier, and I could see the stark differences between my life and those of my peers. Coming back from summer break, I did not have any stories to share of my adventures in Cancun or London, I had never even been out of the country. I remember for my 13th birthday my mom threw a surprise party for me at my father's house, I remember how embarrassed I was after having my friends see the area I lived in. I had been to their homes before, I'd had slept over in their mansions, and been invited to their homes for dinner parties, afterward which they gave me tours which included stops at the chicken coop in the backyard. I partook in code-switching throughout the years at various points in time until it become natural for me to change and become a different person the second I stepped onto school grounds. It wasn't until I left GFS that I realized how much this had affected me. Throughout my years I had always felt an odd sensation in the pit of my stomach having to put on a mask everyday, things like that physically affect you, but it wasn't until I left did I realize the true extent of the damage. Although, I know that you must always take the bitter with the sweet. Despite the personal tribulations I had to go through during high school, I walked away from it with incredible connections, and an exposure to theater I likely would not have had in my neighborhood school. This is the exact reason why I hope to one day make theater and performing arts more accessible in lower-income neighborhoods and schools. Community theaters are few and far between, especially in low-income areas. Performing arts is an area that should be included, or at least available as an option, in every curriculum. There are so many young people who could benefit tremendously just from having an outlet to express their creativity. I believe the arts are a vital facet of any education: it expands your perspective, allows you to see the world differently, and can benefit students in ways completely unrelated to drama. All I hope to do is share the same opportunities given to me with others.

My greatest fear in life has always been being forgotten. So many people are forgotten, so many people shuffle through life without making an impact, they leave no waves behind, and you ask yourself ‘Would the world be any different if they never arrived?’. I don’t want this for my life. I want to leave a lasting legacy behind, I want people to remember me for the passion I brought into my craft, but also for the things I did outside of my art. For a long time the way I was moved to do this was by improving the accessibility to the performing arts in low-income neighborhoods. I grew up in a public housing complex in South Philadelphia, there are no community theaters, and there were no opportunities to engage in drama at my neighborhood school. It was not until middle school when I won a scholarship to attend Germantown Friends - a private K-12 Quaker school - that I was first exposed to the world of theater. My passion for the arts preceded my acceptance into GFS, although the opportunities I had at that school greatly nurtured and shaped my creativity over the next 6 years. I was in multiple productions throughout the years, performed in two student films, and even had the opportunity to apprentice under a professional LA actor who was an alumnus of the school. I understand the great privilege I had in being at the school, one that I had to fight for. But I don’t believe any student should have to fight for the opportunity to be exposed to the arts. The arts, particularly, the performing arts have long been undervalued in the educational system. Although, I believe it deserves more priority than it currently receives in the current curriculum, which in many institutions is non-existent. Performing arts allows an outlet for the untapped creativity many adolescents have pent up inside of them. It allows for the nurturing and expression of emotions and feelings that some may have no other outlet for. It has the potential to expand one's perspective of the world - this I know from experience. If I could bring this opportunity to more people like me in my life, I could confidently say I did something worthwhile with my time here. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *attached is a play I was cast as the lead in, filmed February of this year

My passion for the performing arts predates any exposure to it within the classroom. However, the education I received in the arts pushed me to continue my pursuit of it, and nurtured my overall creativity throughout high school. Michael Grant Terry, my senior year acting teacher/mentor, is undoubtedly the figure who inspired me most to pursue the craft in further education. I was fortunate enough to have the alumni relations director at my high school connect him to me for a Directed Independent Study(DIS) experience. Michael was a regular on the show Bones and had been in the industry since his early 20s. Never before had I been in contact with someone within the industry, from whom I could pick their brain and seek guidance. Someone who had gone to college for drama, worked full-time as a professional actor, and was also doing quite well for themselves. Michael gave me insight into how to find a good agent, the work ethic required to be an actor, and the first comprehensive teaching of acting I’d ever received up until that point. He also alleviated many of the fears I held regarding pursuing acting as a profession. The stark truth is that acting is not the career for those looking for safety, it is highly competitive and work is inconsistent. Most actors are struggling and don’t ever reach the point where they’re able to work as performers full-time. The current SAGAFTRA strike is a testament to the rough roads ahead for anyone looking to become an actor. Nonetheless, looking at Mike, who was a full-time actor living in LA, I asked myself: If he could do it, why can’t I? Knowing that he had walked the same halls as me at Germantown Friends - it made my aspirations that much more tangible to me, they were achievable, and here is the proof. I am aware of the incredible privilege I have in going to the high school I did and having the connections associated with that school. I’ve lived in public housing my entire life, we are currently on food stamps; I would not have attended the high school I did had my parents had to pay out of pocket. Getting a scholarship to go to a $40k Quaker private school exposed me to a lot of things I hadn’t seen before, and would not have seen otherwise. Good and bad. Going to a PWI in high school came with many struggles for me, I experienced a lot of alienation and battled with my identity for a long time. Although, I know that you must always take the bitter with the sweet. Despite the personal tribulations I had to go through during high school, I walked away from it with incredible connections, and an exposure to theater I likely would not have had in my neighborhood school. This is the exact reason why I hope to one day make theater and performing arts more accessible in lower-income neighborhoods and schools. Community theaters are few and far between, especially in low-income areas. Performing arts is an area that should be included, or at least available as an option, in every curriculum. There are so many young people who could benefit tremendously just from having an outlet to express their creativity. I believe the arts are a vital facet of any education: it expands your perspective, allows you to see the world differently, and can benefit students in ways completely unrelated to drama. All I hope to do is share the same opportunities given to me with others.

I was granted the opportunity to be an extra on a show called 'Mare of Easttown' starring Kate Winslet my sophomore year of high school. Acting had been the love of my life for years prior to this point, I had been involved in multiple school productions, acquired an agent, and taken a few courses in acting by this time. Although, I had never before been on a set, never once actually stepped foot on a professional shoot of any kind. I was anxious in anticipation for the job, terrified that it was going to be nothing like I'd expected and that my dreams would be crushed because that spark would be missing. As an extra, your job is to be background noise and ambiance in support of the main focal object - which in this case was Kate Winslet's character listening to a church sermon. And background noise I was, for 6 hours I sat in a church pew, with 150 other extras, and looked ahead. I will never forget the experience - because I loved every single second of it and it was the moment I knew I belonged somewhere. Watching the makeup crew touch-up actors during cuts, seeing the videographers walk around with their cameras, and the audio crew holding boom mics over the principal actors speaking. I walked away from this experience knowing without a doubt that I wanted to pursue a career in acting, and was greatly affirmed in my beliefs of my place in this industry. I don't know how differently my life would've turned out had I not lived in single-parent households, because for a long time, I had no idea others didn't. It wasn't until I started attending a PWI, did I start seeing the uniqueness of my upbringing. Seeing kids whose parents together at all was new to me. I had never even seen my parents together, they had already separated by the time I was brought into the world. However, I am fortunate for the fact that both of my parents have been present in my life, and have shown up greatly in support of me throughout my life in their respective ways. Throughout my youth, I have lived with both of them, but have lived with my father the majority of the time. As far as the arts go, my father has been one motivation for me to pursue whatever drives me and gets me out of bed. He's a photographer and has worked for himself for 20 years, and while I've seen him struggle greatly, I've also learned from him that money is nowhere near the most important thing in life. At the same time, my mother is the one who has shown me the way to the more professional side of life. How to write a resume and send emails, how to apply for a job and seek references, she even helped me get my first official job; my dad on the other hand did help me get my first job, but it was more under the table work, getting paid cash for passing out flyers for a restaurant. I have learned equally important lessons from both of them throughout my life. I would be lying if I said I didn't sometimes wonder how differently things would be had I had a traditional upbringing. However, I am incredibly grateful for the upbringing I did have, and the fact that I have - and have always had two parents who love me and want nothing but the best for me, regardless of their relationship with one another.