In-Class Interview

Transferring from a school with an excellent acting program in South Carolina all the way to Florida State may seem like a strange decision for many, but for Gabby, it was a no brainer. Going to school at FSU was largely influenced by her past experiences as well as her friends input, “I had been to FSU before for a kind-of extended period of time, and I loved it then, and hearing how highly my friends were talking about it and how much my friends liked it and how much they liked the acting program in particular definitely made me want to come here.” Gabby is a BFA acting major who has appeared in numerous films and other projects, and FSU’s program here was definitely an influencing factor for her decision to come to FSU, even though it’s ten plus hours from her hometown, “Yea I mean if FSU didn't have a BFA acting program i wouldnt come here because I want to go into BFA acting, and the people that I knew in the program definitely influenced my decision to come here.”

Gabby was also determined to get the full “college experience” while she pursued her major, since during the last semester at her previous school she spent, “twelve hours a day going to class and rehearsals.” Transferring over to Florida State where the workload wasn't nearly as demanding also gave her much more free time, allowing her to become close friends with her roommate and handle more responsibility that she wasn't previously able to being so close to home. Even though both of her parents previously attended the University of Central Michigan, Gabby claims, “my parents really didn’t influence my decision to come here, but they were very supportive of my decision.” When asked if being so far from her home of Michigan had proven difficult, Gabby responded with, “ I dont think its sunken in yet, so my last school that i went to is an hour and forty minutes away from my house so I could go home whenever I wanted and like, do laundry or get my mom to make me food. So Id say that one of the hardest things has been not having those home-cooked meals.”

Being so much further from home has also allowed Gabby to branch out and assume responsibility for herself, allowing her to experience much more and learn more about her own identity. Gabby doesn't believe that she will attend a graduate school, saying, “I don't think that I'll go to graduate school because, I want to go ahead and start working (acting) once Im done with college. I was actually thinking about just going straight into work once I got out of high school, but decided that I wanted to go to college.” Gabby plans on getting an apartment off campus next year with her current roommate, and says “I'm really looking forward to next year when Ill have my own place and where i can continue my career here at FSU.”