Drama Queen

She wasn't always a Drama Queen. When she was tiny she definitely had a mind of her own, but she was also quiet and shy. She loved books from the very beginning and they quickly became her best friends. I went to work full-time before she was born, so she spent her babyhood in the arms of someone else during the day. We bought our first home when she was only 2, so she doesn't really remember the unsettled lifestyle. By the time she was 4 we bought our current home and that is where she grew up.

The Drama Queen loved school. She is a life-long learner. Random facts spew from her brain because she never forgets anything. (I'm not like that...I would retain information only long enough to regurgitate it for a test and then discard it.) But the Drama Queen wants to know about everything.

She chose teaching as her profession when she was in elementary school. She adored her 6th grade teacher and when that teacher gave her the part of Kate in Taming of the Shrew, I thought she was crazy! How was my shy, sweet little girl who never said two words to anybody outside her immediate family going to react to being the star of a Shakespearean drama?

Oh, she managed, and she was awesome! With her sponge-like brain, she never had trouble learning lines and her confidence (and her British accent) grew and developed with her character. She was never the same again. The stage had transformed her.

We started looking for acting classes and she tried out for any and all community plays. She was in Oliver, My Fair Lady, and Jane Eyre. But her most stellar performance was as the leading role of the evil witch in Annabelle Broom.

I should get her to publish her resume for you so you can see all the productions she was part of in one way or another. High school was another place she excelled. She became one of the mainstays in the drama department and she appeared in most of their shows.

But she also was busy developing that original love of her life, books. She decided in 8th grade that she wanted to become a New Century scholar. In Utah that means that she would receive a good portion of tuition for her second two years of university work if she completed her Associates Degree before she graduated from high school. Now most kids earn that degree in General Ed from the local community college. They take mostly concurrent enrollment and AP classes with only a few internet classes to fill in the gaps.

Not the Drama Queen. She decided to major in English and she attended many classes on campus. Then she transferred to SUU and because she couldn't pick, she earned a double-major, English and Theater Education. She finished up her degree in December of 2011 when she completed her student teaching, but today is her graduation day.

We are leaving at the crack of dawn so she can pick up her cap and gown before commencement commences. She is an awesome daughter and she is so excited to begin sharing her love of learning with middle or high school-aged kids.

Congrats, Drama Queen! You have worked so hard and we are so proud of you! Love you tons and tons...Mom.