Student Blog: The Circle Of Life

She traced a circle on the page, slow and deliberate, the pencil gliding across the paper as if it had a mind of its own. One loop. Two loops. A complete circle. And then, suddenly, she was not in her classroom anymore. The air smelled of wood polish and velvet curtains, the hum of anticipation buzzing in her ears. She was on stage.

The lights were blinding, the audience a shadowy sea of faces, and somewhere deep inside, a familiar thrill ignited. That simple circle, that small act of creation, had carried her here, to the very place where everything she loved about performance came alive. Full circle, in the truest sense, from imagination to reality, from a quiet page to the roar of the stage.

My elementary school was unlike any other. It was an arts elementary school. Every lesson felt like a performance because we learned on a stage. Math problems became visual stories, science experiments were turned into scenes, and history came alive through reenactments and songs. Drawing, movement, and storytelling were not just activities. They were the way we explored ideas, solved problems, and understood the world. I remember sketching shapes and patterns during a math lesson while the spotlight lingered on our little stage, realizing that learning did not have to be separate from creativity. The stage was our classroom, and in that space, education and art were inseparable. 

My elementary school theater teacher was my greatest inspiration. She believed in me, in my abilities, and told me that I could be an actor if it was truly what I dreamed about. She helped shape me into the person and performer I am today, and for her guidance and inspiration, I am forever grateful. Another very fond source of inspiration was taking field trips to our local arts high school to see their productions. The head of theater at my elementary school is married to the head of theater at that high school. We always joked that our schools were connected through marriage and that once you graduated from that elementary school, your next stage would be that high school. Every single time I exited the theater after watching one of the high school productions, I left inspired and with a song in my heart, thinking that that is my plan. My dream for the future. When I sat in the audience of those productions, it was like staring at a mirror, and I knew that would be me in that program up on that stage in a few more years. I carried that feeling with me everywhere, but first I had to graduate elementary school.

Our theater teacher had announced that our graduating play for elementary school would be A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Thirteen-year-old me was quaking with fear and excitement as it was my first time performing Shakespeare, but I was ready. This was what I was meant to do. I stepped out onto that stage as Peter Quince and closed a very important circle, my full circle of elementary school in that role.

The next circle of my life came in the form of high school. I put the pen to the paper and was ready to begin drawing again. I am now a theater major in high school in the program that my elementary school theater teacher’s husband created, and he is now my theater teacher. The program I once longed to be in, I now was in, and the person whose productions I longed to be in, I now called my teacher and starred in his productions.

I am a senior in high school, a theater major, and I just closed my first senior show. When my teacher announced that our graduating senior play would be A Midsummer Night’s Dream, I felt multiple circles coming to a close. The very show I did with his wife and graduated Grade 8 performing, I now was doing to close out my first semester of Grade 12. The circle began to reclose again when I was cast once again as Peter Quince.

An actor revisiting a role does not happen very often, but it is a true gift when it does. Getting to reflect on my thirteen-year-old self versus my seventeen-year-old self, I have learned and grown so much. Seeing how my portrayal of Peter Quince has grown and evolved as I have grown and evolved has been a unique experience.

Having the young students from my elementary school come to watch one of our student matinees, I hope they felt the same way I once felt, looking at a mirror of their own potential on stage. I will never forget being so excited to watch the Grade 12 shows as a student, and now I am the Grade 12 they are coming to see. Exiting the theater to say hello to the students and my old teachers was beautiful, but the moment I will always cherish is hugging my elementary school theater teacher after she saw me perform in one of her husband’s productions, the very same production I did with her, in the very same role she cast me in first. That was a full circle moment I will never forget. Both she and her husband are retiring this year, and getting to be in her husband's final class after longing to be his student was full circle.  

As I step into 2026, my dreams for this year extend far beyond the stage or the applause. My goal is to inspire the next generation of young theater students to find their own circles, to recognize the moments and experiences that will shape them, and to embrace the courage it takes to start drawing that circle, even when the path feels uncertain. I want them to see that every rehearsal, every performance, and every small act of creativity is a step toward completing something bigger, a journey that will one day bring them full circle just as it has for me. I want them to understand that it is not just about reaching the final stage or performing the lead role, but about living fully in every moment, cherishing every challenge and triumph, and allowing those experiences to guide them along the path of their dreams. I hope they feel empowered to take risks, to make mistakes, to explore, and to discover the power of their own voices, because it is through living those experiences that the circle begins to close. My wish is for them to find the same joy, wonder, and sense of possibility that I felt as a child sketching shapes on a stage, as a thirteen year old stepping into my first Shakespeare role, and as a senior reflecting on the incredible journey that brought me here. By encouraging them to start drawing their circle, to take that first leap without fear, I hope to show them that the path of creativity, persistence, and passion can lead to moments they never imagined, moments that will one day lead to the stage, their circle complete, and their dreams fully alive. Because, it is merely the circle of life.