A Statement from YaYa

Long, emotional post because I can:

For the past three years I’ve been struggling to feel content or productive within my major of study @ UWM. I’ve had to really reflect on my academics and why I’ve been struggling to progress in a field of study that I’m clearly very passionate about. 

Theatre has been my life for a long time. I can’t remember my life without it and I can’t see my future without it, either. Studying theatre every day since 2015 (thanks, public arts-centric education) has been amazing and I’ve learned enough to feel concrete in my love for the art form. I feel so strongly towards theatre education and the benefits that youth receive from it, but the program at UWM just wasn’t enough for me. 

Intimate class sizes (usually about 4-12 students) seemed so ideal in the beginning but I’d come to dread seeing the same people in each class every day. And not because I don’t like the other theatre ed students - but because it felt very repetitive and stagnant. 

Because of the pandemic, my experience shifted and I was involuntarily removed from tech crews, the campus dorms, and more. It felt like everything I knew was uprooted in a matter of weeks- and though I had hoped I would regain my footing and drive, it never happened. Between the lack of accessible online courses in the theatre ed program and the lack of variety, it just wasn’t working for me.

It took me a long time to come to this conclusion because I love theatre education, period. I’ve been hurting because it stings to accept that I’m moving on. 

But I think it’s for the better.

Today I’ve officially declared a new major of study, Community Engagement & Education. I think this will be a great fit for me and I’m excited to see where it takes me. My path towards higher education hasn’t been linear and it’s been difficult to acknowledge at times. But when I get that degree- and I WILL get there, a few years later- I’ll feel proud. 

As (Doctor) Taylor Swift said: “Part of growing up and moving into new chapters of your life is about catch and release. What I mean by that is, knowing what things to keep, and what things to release. I’m trying to tell you that losing things doesn’t just mean losing. A lot of the time, when we lose things, we gain things too.”