¶ … teaching as a profession and your basic philosophy of education in relation to your particular field.

I'm auditioning for a new role, the most difficult role of my theatrical career to date.

Yes, I was active in drama throughout high school. I was inspired by the dedicated examples of my drama teachers as well the drama of my other teacher's performances in the classroom. But the new role I wish to fulfill is even more demanding than any lead in a high school musical.

I spent long hours memorizing lines, helping with the lighting displays, ruffling through dusty costumes to find just the right outfit for my fellow chorus member, and helped strike the set after spending the entire night onstage as the lead in a complex and kinesthetic story.

But the new role I wish to fulfill requires me to write my own lines, to tell a longer and more involved story. The role is often unnoticed, even though I hope to become a solo performer. A soloist who must perform five days a week, six or more hours of performance, untold hours of preparation, outside of class -- and yet, the most rewarding and socially involved role in the world.

In short, I wish to become a teacher. That will be my new role. For no matter how awesome and inspiring the characters of drama, to help others find themselves through the dramatic art form, to see children gain in self-confidence as they express themselves by proudly proclaiming the words and song of a playwright, is the greatest inspiration and challenge for any theatrical practitioner's heart.

The ideal teacher is a performer, a director, and a facilitator of other's light and talent. The ideal teacher uses drama to excite students about writing, language, and teaches students the vale of practical, hands-on, hard work and the reward that labor can produce. Drama teaches students to empathize with the life of the individual they portray and the audiences they minister to. Yet being a part of a drama also encourages them to communicate with the world, to come outside of their own social shells and worldviews. It inspired my creative spirit and fostered my dedication to become an educator, a performer of truth and knowledge in the classroom. I hope to use the art that has given so much to me to give back to other, younger scholars.