With a little over three months left in the school year many students have begun preparation for the summer and upcoming school year. For underclassmen this includes signing up for future classes, while for the seniors at LP, many have started committing to college.
Michaela Okland, senior, has chosen a nontraditional college pathway, as she has chosen to major in musical theatre. Having applied at over ten different colleges, she now must begin the tedious process of auditioning for specific musical programs at each one.
“A lot of preparation goes into getting ready for my auditions. None of them take place in Colorado, so I have to miss a lot of school in order to travel to them. Normally the auditions take place over three or four days and include reciting monologues, dancing, and singing.” Okland said.
While most students only apply to a few colleges Okland is doing things differently by applying to sixteen colleges.
“I applied to a lot of colleges based on how well merited their musical theatre programs are. Now that I have gotten into all of them, I have to decide which ones I will actually audition at. It is really a matter of eliminating the ones that I can’t picture myself at in the future. “Okland said.
Having participated in the school musicals at LP since her freshman year, Michaela has starred in the leading role in two of the musicals as well as had large parts in others.
“I think that by having experience with having large parts in the musicals at school will help me in college, but I take dance, voice, and acting lessons up in Denver three times a week which has really helped me improve.”
It is evident that Michaela Okland will achieve her college goals and have a future career working in musical theatre, as well as representing Lewis-Palmer High School in a positive way.