Class of '13 arrives at Emerson

The incoming Class of 2013 is made up of nearly 800 students with impressive academic records and varied interests and experiences. Hailing from 43 states and territories and 21 countries, this year's freshman class has an average GPA of 3.3 and a middle (50 percent) range of SAT scores between 1720–1950 (ACT scores between 24–29). The ratio of male to female students is 40 percent to 60 percent, and more than 25 percent of the incoming class is ethnically diverse, the highest percentage in the College's history.

"We are extremely excited about this year's extraordinary group of first-year and transfer students," said Vice President for Enrollment MJ Knoll-Finn. "They come with such varied backgrounds and are going to add a lot to the college community. We are thrilled to welcome them to Emerson."

The new class includes a talk show host on FM radio, an improv member at Second City, a Coca-Cola Scholar, a first-place National Scrapbooker, an animator for Nickelodeon, a flight attendant, a Royal Caribbean cruise line dancer, an Apple Jacks television–commercial star, a trainer of hospital therapy dogs, and a performer under contract with Elektra Records. Meet a few more of the unique incoming students.

Andrea Olalia, journalism, Buena Park, California
At Emerson, she is focusing her studies on journalism, but Andrea Olalia's other passion, hula dancing, dates back to her childhood. She was introduced to the dance form and the Hawaiian culture through a Hawaiian civic association near her hometown of Buena Park, California. Since then, Olalia has continued hula dancing with the civic organization, and has taught hula at her high school through a multicultural club, while getting involved with Hula Ministry at her church in Santa Ana.
Olalia, whose father is Hawaiian, has an ethnically diverse family heritage with roots also in the Philippines. She says that her multicultural background has influenced both her love for journalism and her love for hula.

"I've always been interested in learning about cultures, other people's and my own," said Olalia. "I like dancing hula because it is an important part of the Hawaiian culture. It makes me feel connected to all the generations that came before me and to those who will come after me."

Aside from her hula experience, Olalia was also the co-editor of her high school newspaper. She hopes to continue hula dancing while in Boston and, one day, to become a foreign correspondent.

Joanna Bert, acting, Calabasas, California
Acting major Joanna Bert spent the summer of 2008 in London studying Shakespeare at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA).
"I love Shakespeare," Bert says. "Ultimately I want to be a part of an Equity repertory theater that specializes in Shakespeare."

In high school, as a repertory member of the Santa Monica Playhouse in California, Bert also traveled to Tokyo, where she was an American Cultural Youth Ambassador of the Arts at the Model Language Studio, utilizing theater as a tool for cross-cultural and cross-curricular education.

She received her Screen Actors Guild card as a pre-teen when she had a bit part on the TV show That's Life with Debi Mazur and Paul Sorvino.
 
Bert has also appeared in several commercials, including one for Rugrats Go Wild, where she worked alongside Taylor Lautner, the new teen heartthrob who stars in the Twilight movie series. Bert was also in multiple commercials for Apple Jacks cereal.
Bert says she will pursue acting in the future; however, for the time being she's happy to be a college student. "I came to Emerson for the college experience and being at college is my primary focus right now."

Tobey Zaretsky, political communication, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey
Like many little girls, Tobey Zaretsky of Upper Saddle River took her first ballet class when she was just a toddler. It didn't take long for her instructors to recognize her talent. As she became older, she got more serious about dance, by age 8 she was taking several classes a week and she continued in everything from ballet to modern dance to African dance. When she was 13 she auditioned for several prestigious performing arts high schools in New York City.

She enrolled at the Professional Performing Arts School in New York and through her program danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Her dance program was rigorous. She danced from at least 1:00–4:30 every weekday in school and then on her own she'd practice on the weekends. Then, during her sophomore year at the school she injured her knee and had to stop dancing for a while.

After Zaretky's knee injury, she re-evaluated whether she wanted to endure the extreme pressures of professional dance training and decided to transfer to the high school in her hometown. She shifted from dancing to teaching dance to children as an assistant teacher at the American Ballet Theater.

"With the kids it was really rewarding to see them dance and have so much fun," said Zaretsky, "that's what it's supposed to be."

Now at Emerson, Zaretsky is majoring in political communication and is looking forward to opportunities to explore her interests in politics and government. She likes that she's also at a school where she can be exposed to the arts while she's learning about other things. She also hopes to get involved with Emerson's dance company.

Phoenix Bunke, writing, literature and publishing, Riverside, California
A 383–page children's novel about the lives of warrior cats may not be her subject of choice as an Emerson freshman but when Phoenix Bunke started writing The Lost Light of Mira Kala in fourth grade she says cats were her number–one interest.
"I was obsessed with cats in fourth grade," Bunke says. "I think I preferred cats over people at the time." She saw the book through to the end and finished the novel in ninth grade.

"My dad was constantly bothering me to finish the book; that's one of the reasons I kept going. He would come into my bedroom and say, '[The characters] are alone in the forest with no way out. You have to get them out, you have to finish the book!'"

Bunke says she would like to be an editor after college. While at Emerson, she hopes to edit The Lost Light of Mira Kala and possibly have it published. She's currently working on her second book, Circa Esperaza, which she says is fantasy, western, and sci-fi all rolled into one.

"I try to make my books a combination of things that make readers enjoy reading but also make them think." Bunke says creating characters and describing settings are her favorite aspects of writing. "The process of creating (the stories) isn't always fun because things don't always go as planned, but I love the finished product and being able to see what I created," she says.

Tripp Clemens, film, Newport, Rhode Island
While filming their WGBH–funded documentary (with the help of Concord Academy classmates) this past summer, freshman film major Tripp Clemens (Dewitt Clemens III) and his friend Harvey Burrell started their own production company, Wind Powered Productions.

Clemens and Burrell's proposal to make a documentary on global warming and the effect it has on fishermen on Cape Cod and in Southern New England was chosen from a pool of more than 40 high schools around the globe by WGBH via its Youth Voices Open Call contest. Clemens and Burrell received a $2,000 grant from WGBH and the opportunity to have their film appear on WGBH–TV, WGBH.org and PBS.
Clemens and Burrell showed their narrative film Snow Ball at the Williston Northampton School Film Festival in Northampton, Massachusetts, where they won the best edit catagory.