NESA Weekly Update

Director's Note

🎁 My Three Wishes for the NESA Family This Holiday Season: Sleep, Joy, and Love

Dear NESA Students and Parents,

The festive season is officially upon us! The air is filled with music, the scent of baking, and a beautiful whirlwind of activity. And if you’re anything like me, you might find yourself wishing for gifts that can’t be wrapped. This year, my holiday list is short, simple, and essential: Sleep, Joy, and Love.

😴 Wish #1: Sleep Let’s be honest: we are all doing so much right now!

Between performances (attending and starring in!), holiday parties, shopping, schoolwork, present wrapping, decorating, and visiting with long-lost friends and family—just writing the list is exhausting! You and your students are working incredibly hard, dedicating time to your art and your community.

You all deserve a hearty round of applause, but even more, you deserve a nice long rest. Please prioritize giving yourself the gift of a break. It is vital for your health, your creativity, and your soul. May your holiday season include the kind of deep, restorative sleep that recharges you for the new year.

✨ Wish #2: Joy I don't know if it's my social media feed or the state of the world, but it sometimes feels like polarization is rampant. It can feel like every choice we make, or every view we hold, is ready to be challenged.

This is exactly why we need NESA and the arts!

Our students’ talents are a universal language that brings us all together. In our theaters, studios, and classrooms, we can all agree on one thing: Our students are absolutely phenomenal! Let’s use that common bond to build bridges and bring more light into the world. My wish is that we all actively seek out moments of shared joy this season, starting with celebrating the amazing accomplishments of our talented NESA community.

❤️ Wish #3: Love I am incredibly lucky to be able to call our NESA kids "amazing humans," and I truly try to tell them that I love them every day. That is a huge gift for me, and it’s a gift I encourage you to share freely.

This holiday break, please be purposeful about cherishing every moment you have with your loved ones—yes, even with "Strange Uncle Earl*." When we look back on this time, we will almost certainly regret the moments we didn't spend with each other far more than the minor moments of friction. Love each other, support each other, and embrace the time you have together.

Sleep, Joy, and Love. I hope we all receive a healthy dose of all three this season.

From the bottom of my heart, I wish the entire NESA family the happiest and most restful holiday season possible.

Love,

Marisol Askey

*Strange Uncle Earl is purely fictional in nature. Any similarity to actual persons living or dead, or to events is purely coincidental, and also quite hilarious, because admit it... you saw a face in your mind, didn't you?

Spotlight

Student Spotlight: Tassy Schrader

Hello NESA! For our student spotlight, I asked our AMAZING creative Writer Tassy to write a bit about her experience with questbridge. In true Tassy fashion, she wrote something phenomenal! Without further ado, here is Tassy.

My name is Tassy Schrader, I'm a senior in NESA Creative Writing, and I'm going to Emory University in Atlanta through an amazing scholarship program called QuestBridge. QuestBridge helps high school seniors dream big by providing full four-year scholarships through their match program to top universities across the country. A QuestBridge match looks a little different from the normal college application process: students submit applications in September, and Finalists rank schools out of QuestBridge's 55 partner colleges. Their application then goes to those colleges for consideration, with one major detail added to the application review - colleges also asses the family's financial need. If a student matches to a college, that student will know by December that they get a guaranteed full ride, including housing, books, and even travel.

For me, QuestBridge opened up a world of opportunity. I got resources through their Prep Scholars Program my junior year that helped me feel more prepared for application season. I'm so grateful for this opportunity and the incredible scholarship that will allow me to graduate college debt-free. I know that NESA played a big part in my application because Creative Writing was where I discovered my passion and where I've worked towards a leadership position as one of the editors-in-chief of our literary magazine. In addition to everything else NESA's done for me, one of my recommenders for this application was my creative writing teacher, Mrs. Charney (thank you so much!). I first discovered Emory from a list of the best colleges for writers, and now that I've been accepted to one of my top choice schools, I'm thrilled to be majoring in "English and Creative Writing" as an Emory Eagle very soon.

I would highly recommend QuestBridge to any student from a lower-income background. QuestBridge encouraged my college dreams in the biggest way possible, and I am so grateful that I will get to spend the next four years of my life at Emory. Thank you NESA and thank you QuestBridge!