Brianna+H’s+Final+AmEx+2013+Speech

=Title of Speech= Personality and Passion =Text of Speech=

I am a theatre person. After doing theatre constantly for the past couple of years, things have been so ingrained that they've become part of who I am. My stress dreams are going on for a show that I've never studied the lines for. My horror stories are set piece malfunctions or 30 second quick changes that I almost didn't make. I'll unconsciously switch to a British accent, and when I'm waiting for something I'll start doing dance numbers. In order to study for history, I have to act out what happened, and if I hear someone say certain words that are also in a play, I'll start singing the song or saying the phrase that they go with. You guys have no idea how hard it was to learn about the muckrakers, because every time that Jacob Riis and "How the Other Half Lives" was mentioned, I had the urge to sing, "How the other half, how the other half lives" from Thoroughly Modern Millie. I obviously didn't sing that during class, and that brings me to my point.

I have a very big personality, but you almost never see it at school. I say almost because every once in a while I'll answer a question and my personality shows through a little bit. And when this happens, I'll notice that I get a few strange looks. Which is why I try to keep my personality hidden away while I'm at school. And I know some people will say, "Oh you should just be yourself! Nobody will care!" But the truth is, I have a very theatrical personality, and while dance breaks are fine on stage, they aren't so fine in the quad...or even the hallways. The truth of the matter is, my personality doesn't fit so well with the public school system, especially in a school that doesn't really have a drama program.

But my personality is not alone. My enthusiasm for theatre is comparable to other peoples enthusiasm for anime, or for art, or for music. But all these personalities that come out of this enthusiasm are being hidden away by the public school system. Yes, there is a certain allowance for creativity by adding in arts programs, but that doesn't fix the problem, it merely lessens it. I know I'm picking on sports here, but outside of the sports programs, the athletes are put on pedestals - they're at the top of the social ladder, or at least athletes from some sports are. But even the athletes who aren't at the top, are still quite a few rungs above the arts kids.

I'm not trying to advocate for a better arts program, or taking money away from the sports program or anything like that. In the America that I grow up in, I don't want to see the public school system just hand these kids an arts program and then forget about them. In the America that I grow up in, I want kids to be encouraged, inside and outside of school, to do what they're passionate about, even if it doesn't fit the perfect-cookie-cutter-assembly-line-stereotypical thing that the popular kids do. Diversity doesn't always come from your race. It comes from your personality and your views and your hobbies. To encourage kids to be passionate about something is tell them that they don't need to hide away their ideas and their personalities. To encourage passion is to promote diversity.

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