2017 School Magazine

NEW YORK COLLEGE EXPERIENCE

OXBRIDGE UCLA

June 26, June 27 and finally the golden date June 28 had arrived. I was about to embark on a once in a lifetime journey. Not only was I the only Brisbane Girls Grammar Student travelling to Los Angeles (LA) but I also achieved multiple goals that I thought I wouldn’t get the chance to do until after I finished school — travelling by myself, staying on campus, living in a foreign country for a month, making life-long friends and studying two subjects. The two subjects that I chose to study were Acting and Photography. Studying Acting in LA is any actor’s dream and I had the pleasure of being taught under the phenomenal guidance of Amanda Jaros and Laura-Jean Salerno, who are both working actresses. Within this class we learned two major techniques — audition etiquette and script analysis — and then mostly importantly how to be yourself within this industry. Photography was very different to what I expected; it included more maths and a technical approach to the subject. We were given the chance to work with professional lighting, visit a museum and take some photos of sunny Venice Beach. When we weren’t studying we had the opportunity of venturing outside the UCLA (University of Southern California) campus to immerse ourselves in the local environment and experience LA. This included an afternoon stroll on Santa Monica Pier, a university trip to both Pepperdine and USC Colleges, shopping in Rodeo Drive, sipping tea at Melrose Flea Markets, a captivating evening at the Hollywood Bowl watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, a Fourth of July Dodgers game, drinking butter beer in Hogwarts and seeing Hollywood from a different perspective after hiking to the Hollywood sign. No matter how many times I heard, ‘this will be the best summer of your life’ I didn’t appreciate or understand that comment until I said my final and very emotional goodbye to my Oxbridge UCLA family. The memories will stay with me forever, as will the friends I have been lucky enough to make from all over the world. ISABELLA BERLESE (11O)

The experiences that the nine other Grammar girls and I had in New York City were the most exciting and greatest memories of our lives so far. We had the most amazing opportunity to participate in the New York College Experience (NYCE) 2017 for a month at Barnard College. Between working on our final project in our major class and absorbing the informative lectures of our minor class, we were given a multitude of activities and events to experience from seeing a live baseball game to exploring Central Park. The amount of diversity and different cultures involved in NYCE was phenomenal with 177 students from Turkey, Scotland and even Uruguay! As a part of studying the Musical Theatre Major, I was thrust into a true Broadway experience preparing a final performance of musical theatre show-stoppers for our fellow peers. There were also plenty of excursions to fully absorb the intense musical theatre atmosphere of ‘The Big Apple’ from seeing an improv show at UCB East to watching critically acclaimed ‘Miss Saigon’ on Broadway. My minor class of Criminology was filled with open debates and discussions on the motives of terrorists and false convictions among other topics, as well as questioning Brooklyn police officers about their daily work lives and opinions on the justice system. Learning about these vastly separated fields at the home of Broadway and the NYPD gave me and my peers a real insight into the reality and career paths of both Musical Theatre and Criminology. This experience has given me a chance to grow in confidence and maturity in a way I could have never predicted from this program. I have also made life-long friends across the globe with vastly different life experiences to my own. I am sure that NYCE will remain close to our hearts for years to come. ELYSE McFARLANE (11M)

096 | CO-CURRICULUM | BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL 2017