OSA is a very cool school. If you go to it, you already know that. [...] That’s why I’m bringing you three different student profiles: Theatre student, Eliza Van de Water, Fashion Design student, Naia Arad, and Vocal Music student, Meirav Roisman.
-Declan Mcmahon
OSA is a very cool school. If you go to it, you already know that. You also know, though, that while your emphasis is your passion (usually), or at least the thing you’re in for, being surrounded by so many creatively talented people makes you curious about the other emphases. That’s why I’m bringing you three different student profiles: Theatre student, Eliza Van de Water, Fashion Design student, Naia Arad, and Vocal Music student, Meirav Roisman.
Eliza Van de Water - Theatre
Eliza Van de Water is a sixth-grade theatre student who I interviewed about her overall OSA/Theatre emphasis experience and first impressions. One of the questions I asked her was how the audition process went for her. She said she had to prepare a monologue. In the end, she chose to perform a monologue from Alice in Wonderland, from the scene when Alice was falling down the rabbit hole. She said it was a weird monologue because the character was falling, despite the fact that her friends said she delivered it really well. Another thing she said was that the teacher is super nice. Something she dwelled on was the meditation. She said they did a lot of it, and it kind of boring. She even claimed that her and her friends may have fallen asleep a few times doing it. She also said there was a lot of improv. Those were the main things she said Theatre had been doing that year, practicing monologues, improv, and meditation, all to better their theatre skills. All that is a small snippet of what sixth grade theatre has been doing in the 2018-19 year.
Eliza Van de Water - Theatre
Eliza Van de Water is a sixth-grade theatre student who I interviewed about her overall OSA/Theatre emphasis experience and first impressions. One of the questions I asked her was how the audition process went for her. She said she had to prepare a monologue. In the end, she chose to perform a monologue from Alice in Wonderland, from the scene when Alice was falling down the rabbit hole. She said it was a weird monologue because the character was falling, despite the fact that her friends said she delivered it really well. Another thing she said was that the teacher is super nice. Something she dwelled on was the meditation. She said they did a lot of it, and it kind of boring. She even claimed that her and her friends may have fallen asleep a few times doing it. She also said there was a lot of improv. Those were the main things she said Theatre had been doing that year, practicing monologues, improv, and meditation, all to better their theatre skills. All that is a small snippet of what sixth grade theatre has been doing in the 2018-19 year.
Naia Arad - Fashion Design
Fashion Design, along with Literary Arts, Digital Media, and Production Design, is a new middle school emphasis. Like the others, it has been available to high schoolers for a while, but in 2018 got opened to middle school. And it sounds like it’s going well. They recently had their first exhibit. For this, Naia Arad, a sixth grade fashion design student picked Israeli military style. She turned a pair of pants from Goodwill into an off the shoulder, crop-top style shirt. She dyed white jersey fabric military green, and made it into a skirt. She’s really enjoying her emphasis, apparently. “I like being able to say ‘I’m in fashion,’” she said during the interview, “that just makes me… happy!” Since she was 3 years old, Naia has wanted to be a fashion designer, stapling pieces of paper together because she couldn’t actually sew. She now aims to be a famous costume designer, and be on Project Runway, or Project Runway Junior. Naia thinks that being in the Fashion Design emphasis will help her achieve those goals.
Fashion Design, along with Literary Arts, Digital Media, and Production Design, is a new middle school emphasis. Like the others, it has been available to high schoolers for a while, but in 2018 got opened to middle school. And it sounds like it’s going well. They recently had their first exhibit. For this, Naia Arad, a sixth grade fashion design student picked Israeli military style. She turned a pair of pants from Goodwill into an off the shoulder, crop-top style shirt. She dyed white jersey fabric military green, and made it into a skirt. She’s really enjoying her emphasis, apparently. “I like being able to say ‘I’m in fashion,’” she said during the interview, “that just makes me… happy!” Since she was 3 years old, Naia has wanted to be a fashion designer, stapling pieces of paper together because she couldn’t actually sew. She now aims to be a famous costume designer, and be on Project Runway, or Project Runway Junior. Naia thinks that being in the Fashion Design emphasis will help her achieve those goals.
Meirav Roisman - Vocal
I sat down to interview a sixth-grade Vocal student named Meirav Roisman. She stated early on that she loved singing, and that it gave her an adrenaline rush, and it really satisfied her. She also explained their schedule, as well:on Mondays and Fridays Meirav has Theory, which is the study of all the parts that come together to produce a piece of music. She’s in Theory 2. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she has Choir, which is singing with other people, and on Wednesdays she practices soloing, or singing on her own. Other students have different classes on different days, but that’s hers. She also talked a lot about her audition. She said that she sang a song called “Good Morning Baltimore” from a musical called “Hairspray.” Meirav said she was confident and thought she did really well. In the audition Meirav did other things like Pitch Magic, where the teacher plays a series of notes on the piano, and the student has to sing them. She also had to sight-read music, and do some rhythm/clapping exercises. After her audition, she said, humorously, that she went and ate Thai food, sushi, and Fenton’s Ice Cream—three of her favorite foods, but foods that should not be combined. Although it’s always good to have a celebratory feast, she didn’t feel so well afterwards, unsurprisingly. She’s a very nice person, and she loves her emphasis, so there’s a quick look at Vocal.
I hope you enjoyed my story and learned a little bit about these three emphases, and if you want to know even more, just ask the aforementioned people, now that you know a little about them.
I sat down to interview a sixth-grade Vocal student named Meirav Roisman. She stated early on that she loved singing, and that it gave her an adrenaline rush, and it really satisfied her. She also explained their schedule, as well:on Mondays and Fridays Meirav has Theory, which is the study of all the parts that come together to produce a piece of music. She’s in Theory 2. On Tuesdays and Thursdays she has Choir, which is singing with other people, and on Wednesdays she practices soloing, or singing on her own. Other students have different classes on different days, but that’s hers. She also talked a lot about her audition. She said that she sang a song called “Good Morning Baltimore” from a musical called “Hairspray.” Meirav said she was confident and thought she did really well. In the audition Meirav did other things like Pitch Magic, where the teacher plays a series of notes on the piano, and the student has to sing them. She also had to sight-read music, and do some rhythm/clapping exercises. After her audition, she said, humorously, that she went and ate Thai food, sushi, and Fenton’s Ice Cream—three of her favorite foods, but foods that should not be combined. Although it’s always good to have a celebratory feast, she didn’t feel so well afterwards, unsurprisingly. She’s a very nice person, and she loves her emphasis, so there’s a quick look at Vocal.
I hope you enjoyed my story and learned a little bit about these three emphases, and if you want to know even more, just ask the aforementioned people, now that you know a little about them.
