ARLINGTON — Emma VanderWeyst, 17, is a senior at Arlington High School with a passion for history, government and theater. She balances a 3.95 GPA with leading roles in drama club and leadership class, community service and a part-time job.
Question: What subjects do you feel you excel at?
Answer: Well, my favorite subject is probably history, which is kind of nerdy. Right now I’m in an AP Government class and I love it. We look at all the different aspects of politics and history and how that all correlates, and that really interests me. I took a U.S. History class last year and I really enjoyed it and I loved my teacher who taught it. She just really knew her stuff and inspired me to go into politics and history when I grow up.
Q: When you say you want to go into politics and history, what specifically interests you?
A: I want to work with nonprofit groups, kind of working as a liaison between nonprofits and the government just helping get grants or get legislation passed that will help the nonprofit groups.
Q: What extracurricular activities do you participate in?
A: I’m really involved in our drama program and I love it. I’m also really involved in our leadership program and I’m currently the (student body) treasurer and I’m in the leadership class.
Q: What is it that drew you to drama?
A: I’ve been involved in drama since I was 5 years old and I did classes and shows through Village Theatre KidStage in Everett. I actually transferred to Arlington because of the incredible reputation the high school drama program has, so right off the bat freshman year I was attending drama club and I’ve auditioned for every show since my freshman year. I’ve been in six shows here. I just love it.
Q: What’s your favorite role you’ve played?
A: My sophomore year I got to play Marian Paroo in “The Music Man,” and that was just an incredible experience. It’s a part that doesn’t really fit the type I normally play. It was amazing. I don’t even know how to describe it. I just got to learn so much. I feel like that was kind of the turning point for when I went from being a kid actor to a more grown-up actor. I felt a lot more confident about my performance after that.
Q: Do you have volunteer work or a job outside of school?
A: I volunteer at Purrfect Pals Cat Shelter over in Lakewood and I volunteer at the high school at events and stuff and also at the middle schools and elementary schools. I also work at Just Peachy Frozen Yogurt in Smokey Point. I just started there over the summer. It keeps me pretty busy, but I like it.
Q: What do you do for fun?
A: I’ve always loved to read. I love books. I sing. I do private vocal lessons and I’ve been in the choirs here at the high school for the last three years. I love to hang out with my family. We do these family dinners every Monday night where we all sit down and my grandmother and my great-aunt come over and we all eat together. It’s one of my favorite parts of the week. I have a little brother named Ben. He’s 13, goes to Lakewood Middle School. We’re really close. We love watching food shows on Netflix together. That’s kind of our thing. We’ll stay up until 2 in the morning watching Food Network stars.
Q: Any other activities you’re involved in?
A: During the last six months, I’ve been working with the administration and some other students and we’ve been putting together an anti-bullying curriculum. It’s called The Way and we’ve been using it for a couple years but we went through it and revised it. It’s been really interesting learning about bullying and how much of it gets missed because it’s not reported or things like that. I also work as an assistant for the public relations officer for the schools, which has been an amazing experience. It’s helped me build my communication skills and my confidence. For the past two years, I have served as the Queen (and) youth ambassador for Sons of Norway, Normanna Lodge. I am a fourth generation member.
Q: Anything else you want to add?
A: On my first day of auditions my freshman year for my first play I met the girl who is my best friend right now. We’ve been in all the shows together since and it’s just so awesome to have someone interested in the same things I’m interested in. Our names are Emma and Emily, so we get a lot of grief for that all the time. We actually got to play the evil stepsisters in “Cinderella” last year together, which was amazing. We got nominated for a 5th Avenue Award, which is such an honor. We called each other crying when we found out.
Kari Bray: 425-339-3439; kbray@heraldnet.com.
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