If there are student-athletes then there are also student-artists. Senior Maija Flannery has used her passion to make the fine arts a prevalent aspect of her high school life. Additionally, she is also looking to continue her career in college. Flannery looks back on her performing lifestyle and looks to the future and where it might take her.
Flannery has been participating in many fine arts programs in and out of DGS: alternating fall and winter plays each year, the musical, speech team, choir, PIR (performance in the round) and recreational theater since seventh grade. She reflects on how the fine arts have been a major aspect of her recent life.
“I have two class periods of choir during the day and then I’ll go after school for speech or a play and in previous school years I would leave and go to more rehearsals outside of school and then do my homework. So a lot of time a week,” Flannery said.
Choir and musical director Joy Belt-Roselieb has been working with Flannery for the past three years at DGS. She describes the skills needed to engage with the time consuming fine art programs.
“Kids are here because they love it, they love to sing and they love to perform so they will put that extra time in. You have to be incredibly organized to be a theater and fine arts student because there are all these extra performances to do,” Belt said.
Despite the time-commitments, Flannery wouldn’t change a thing about her schedule describing the benefits she sees in participating in fine art programs.
“I love the people and the communities that are built, there’s something so healing about discovering more about yourself working with different characters through music. There’s things you learn about yourself pretending to be someone else or listening to songs and singing them with other people,” Flannery said.
Flannery wishes to continue her fine arts career in college, looking at schools such as New York University and the University of Michigan to get a Bachelors of Fine Arts degree. On top of the work she already puts in now, she has to navigate through the unique application process.
“I do weekly voice lessons and weekly acting lessons so I have to prepare sets of monologues and sets of audition cuts and then as I submit my common app I’ll have to submit pre-screens for all my schools and then those acceptances come in I’ll have to go to these schools and apply,” Flannery said.
Belt reflects on Flannery’s attributes as a person and as a performer as she looks beyond high school.
“If Maija chooses to go into the performing world I have no doubt she will be absolutely successful because of her work ethic and talent. Talent will only get you so far. It is the work ethic that will take you to the next level and she has that,” Belt said.
