Despite Galileo’s proficiency and reputation in STEM fields, I’ve found that during my time here, I’ve fostered my creativity and growth within Galileo’s arts space.
While applying for high schools, applying to SOTA was something that I strongly considered. Though I wasn’t sure of what I wanted to pursue, I had done theater growing up, and both my family and I felt like it would be best if I ended up at an arts school. There was definitely pressure from friends who did theater with me to apply, but I believed that I would find what was best for me elsewhere. And SOTA, despite its art prestige, was far from home and was somewhere I lacked friends. I ended up not applying, and settled on Galileo instead, hoping that I would be able to figure out what I wanted to do while there.
Looking back, I’ve realized there are nearly enough resources at Galileo for it to become an art school itself! It seemed under advertised in the application process, but once I arrived there was certainly an abundance of video and art material for me to work with.
I unlocked information and experience I would need from the Galileo arts program to help myself develop into a filmmaker. I became friends with a few people who took Mr. Machtay’s digital communications class, which I decided to look into. Though I never took the class, I learned a lot from those friends about how to work a camera and edit video.
During my junior year, my Art 1 teacher, Mr. Meyer, helped me to build my artistic eye and creativity, which in turn made me view the world around me with more precision while developing stories.
I also found that many of my classes required visual and video assignments, which, though in small scale, taught me to work with unique material, such as in my French class, where I worked with a different language, and much less developed sentences. It also taught me to work faster than I normally do.
When I started shooting short films on my own during high school, I noticed that it became much easier for me to write, and my introduction to new people had given me more ideas. Furthermore, I noticed that I felt much more open to criticism and reworks, after the different ways I’ve been given advice on my art at Galileo. Ultimately, these things helped me unearth my passion for film, and taught me lessons that I’ll use in my career, which has been inspired by all of those who have taught and learned with me.
Coming to the end of my senior year, I’m glad that I’m able to value the experience that I’ve had at Galileo, and the way it shaped my view on the world, and my art.
