HHS, Harford Friends Grad is Hollywood Bound

From Harford Friends School:
———

Seventeen year-old Sarah Waldron, a member of Harford Friends School's first class of eighth grade graduates in 2008 and resident of Havre de Grace, is continuing her post-high school intellectual enrichment a year ahead of her peers and from behind the lens of a movie camera.

After graduating a year early from high school at Havre de Grace High School, Sarah applied to and was accepted into the New York Film Academy at its Los Angeles campus. Sarah, an accomplished writer while at Friends, sees herself as a storyteller. Film school enables her to expand her story-telling capabilities as well as her career opportunities; she sees herself one-day directing films. The one-year, trade-school program taught by practicing professionals offers Sarah the hands-on technical skills to pursue that dream.

The program is demanding and selective. The New York Film Academy's web site identifies specific criteria for its students. All students must possess the drive and commitment necessary to complete a rigorous, total immersion program. They must be able to communicate well and work collaboratively with others in an artistic environment. Sarah's experience to-date is confirmation. "So far my experience has been fantastic! The school is incredibly intensive and fast paced - I'm in school 6 days a week and usually shooting 2-3 days a week as well."

Sarah is no stranger to hard work. As a student at Friends, Sarah completed a Mastery Project in which she wrote a 147-page novel over the course of her seventh and eighth grade years. The novel received preliminary interest from a British-based publisher, and Sarah hopes the piece will one day be published. From HFS, Sarah was one of fifty students accepted that year to Aberdeen High School's Science and Math Academy. She was initially attracted to the advanced math and science coursework in the program. Finding the humanities classes not as engaging and challenging, Sarah transferred midway through her freshman year to Havre de Grace High School.

Sarah's mother, Lisa Ward, minister of Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Harford County in Churchville and former theatrical director herself, sees in Sarah a tremendous drive. "Sarah was not feeling challenged by [her] academic atmosphere and did not see herself coasting in the senior year, as would have happened. She did not feel she would benefit by staying 4 years and wanted to avoid wasting time.  Some look forward to that easy, senioritis year.  Sarah - no." Sarah and her mom also credit Harford Friends School with helping to provide an outlet for her drive. "HFS contributed to her confidence in personalizing her own education.  Teachers also encouraged her voice, especially in writing."

Realizing that an early graduation was within her reach, she decided not to delay pursuit of her dream any longer. Sarah enrolled herself in 12 credits of community college courses and doubled her math courses her sophomore year and her English courses in her junior year. When her classmates were wrapping up their junior years of high school, Sarah graduated ranked first in her class, but she could not be conferred valedictory status due to her early graduation. Shortly thereafter, she received her acceptance into film school.

New York Film Academy offers this one-year program with the option to incorporate it into an AFA, BFA, and/or MFA degree. Sarah knows that her decision surprised many people who expected her to move into a four-year college program. She admits to feeling a certain amount of pressure to "make this work," but she knows this is the right place and right program for her at this time. The experience of shooting silent films recently revealed for Sarah a whole new side of storytelling.

"The most surprising thing for me has been my new-found interest in the facets of the filmmaking industry. I approached this program from a writing perspective, and while I still consider myself to be first and foremost a writer, working with non-dialogue films has immersed me in a whole new world of storytelling that I didn't expect to appreciate as much as I do," reflected Waldron.  "Camera operation and editing are two fields of study that I hadn't put much consideration into previously and am now discovering that I love."

Sarah's primary English teacher while at Friends, Mr. James Pickard, is not surprised that Sarah has followed the path of her choosing. "Sarah had tremendous talent in writing -- she was far ahead of her years.  She was imaginative, articulate, and extremely disciplined in making each paper just right," he commented. Pickard, a member of the Harford County Educators Hall of Fame and former Non-Public School Teacher of the Year (2008), knows talent when he sees it and knows that Sarah will achieve whatever she sets her mind to achieving. "It will be great fun to see what Sarah produces," he said.  "I want to be the first to buy a ticket to see one of her films."

The transition from high school to independent Los Angeles living has been remarkably smooth and invigorating for Sarah. "Living in LA has so far been just about everything it's cracked up to be! I bike past the Kodak and Chinese theatres as well as the Hollywood Bowl on my way home from school." Like most college freshman, the experience of encountering new people from a host of different backgrounds is equally as invigorating. "I'm very much enjoying interacting with the international students that attend NYFA - in one particular class, less than half of us are American."

As the first Harford Friends School student eligible for post-high school experience, Head of School Jonathan Huxtable is not at all surprised by Sarah's choice. "I recall pulling Sarah aside on her last day of school at HFS and reminding her that the hardest thing she may ever have to do in her life would be to decide how to utilize her many talents. Film and its power to tell stories to the widest of audiences is really a very natural fit for such a truly talented young woman. I am immensely proud of her, not as much for her academic accomplishments and drive as I am proud of and impressed by her willingness to choose her own path, not necessarily the path of others' expectations. In many ways she is embodying the values of our school by recognizing her gifts and discerning for herself a right course of action." 

Sarah's journey, begun and nurtured here in Harford County, may one day inform, enlighten, and entertain all of us in the form of film.