For the next few days, The Record will highlight one graduating senior from each school with a brief profile. These students are not necessarily the top grade earners in their class, but have been chosen by the guidance counselors at their respective schools to represent the spirit of what education is all about.
Some have overcome difficult challenges along the way to graduation; others may have some unique involvement, drive or focus. They've all had a different path.
Anna Styron of Nease High School has been on stage since her days at Murray Middle School's Center for the Arts, and she says she's hoping to take her love of musical theater to the next level.
This week, Styron, 18, will graduate from Nease with a 3.59 grade point average, while also dually enrolled at St. Johns River State College. She's an award-winning actress and writer, praised by her high school guidance counselor, Michel P. Gledhill, in a recommendation letter, for using "her abilities in and out of the classroom to reach students and peers who are struggling to be a part of the world of high school."
An accomplished thespian, she most recently appeared in the Limelight Theatre's production of "Children of a Lesser God." She's also starred in school productions of "Oklahoma," "Our Town" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream."
And she likes to give back with her gifts.
"Anna is a leader, who also uses her extraordinary skills in American Sign Language to support hearing impaired students here on campus," Gledhill wrote of Styron.
Though she had some misgivings when most of her middle school classmates went on to the St. Johns Center for the Arts at St. Augustine High School as she headed off to Nease, Styron says she's happy with her school.
"My parents really wanted me to go to Nease," she said. "I was a little out of sorts at first, especially my freshman year, but it's a great school, and I was happy to be part of the Communications Academy."
"I'm a drama kid, through and through," Styron said. "Plays are my big thing, especially musical theater. And I want to make a career in the performing arts, which, amazingly, my parents have been very supportive of. They believe in me and in what I can do, and I'm grateful for that. A lot of parents would never want their kid to think of acting as a life choice. But mine have been really good about it."
"I know it's a career where you're taking your chances, but I'm determined to give it my all," she said. "And I guess I'm a big dreamer, but I believe in my dreams."
The most amazing memory I'll carry with me from high school is of the opportunity I had to go to Finland over the summer between my sophomore and junior years. It was a full-paid scholarship through Youth for Understanding, and I got to serve as a youth ambassador. I got the scholarship for an essay I wrote about Finnish theater and music. For seven weeks, I stayed with a host family in Finland, and it was so wonderful. I loved the country, and the people are fantastic. It was a great opportunity and I'm extremely grateful for it. I still keep in touch with my host family and look forward to seeing them again.
You'd think it would be drama, but I didn't actually take drama classes at Nease. I had gotten all of those out of the way at Murray Middle. Anyway, my favorite class in high school was American Sign Language. It actually changed who I am, and it gave me a whole new way to communicate. I also enjoyed the fact that it gave me an opportunity to help other people. And it has opened other doors to me, as an interpreter as well as an actor. I love it.
I'm working two jobs to save for college. I just got hired to be a history teller at the Old Jail and I'm super excited about that. I want to be a ghost tour host, too. My other job is as a hostess at Red Lobster.
I'm going to go to Florida School of the Arts in Palatka for two years. My dream school after that would be Florida State University, where I want to get into their amazing performing arts program. That's my plan.
Well, it's different for the performing arts than it is in the business career world. It's always up in the air, really, but I hope to do well and get noticed. My plan is to finish college, then move to New York City, or Chicago or Los Angeles and go on auditions all the time. I might work as an interpreter as a day job, of course.
I love singing, painting and writing, pretty much anything to do with the arts. And even though I'm so busy with theater and school that there's not always time to hang out with friends and family, I do cherish that as well.
Facebook, Hulu and IMDB, definitely. I love looking up actors on IMDB.
If I could somehow make bullying in all its forms go away, that would be the one thing I'd do. And feed the whole world.