I was teaching in a school where most of our students stayed
at home when they went to college. To
broaden kids’ horizons, a group of teachers tried to encourage students to go
out of state for college. So, you can
imagine our excitement when Ego decided to go across the country to University
of Southern California to become a doctor.
Little did we know that becoming a doctor was her backup
plan. She picked USC to become an actor, which would eventually lead her to join
the cast of Saturday Night Live.
Ego majored in biology and minored in sociology, finishing in
three years, but neither of these subjects resonated with her. She took an acting class at USC, but that did
not inspire her. She finally joined a acting group outside of college.
As a service-oriented person, Ego wondered if she was being
self-centered in pursuing an acting career.
One day, however, she was alone in her apartment and feeling kind of
down. She started listening to a
comedian. By the end of the show, Ego
realized she was happy and that becoming an entertainer was about bringing joy
to others.
A couple of agents recommended she try improv. But Ego did
not think that was for her. She finally gave in, thinking that it would look
good on her resume. In two weeks, she
totally fell in love with improv. When I
asked her what made that happen, her reply was, “I just knew I loved it. It was what my friends and I did every day.”
What did she learn from improv? How to adjust when pushed out of your comfort
zone. That there is a world of
possibilities out there if you just take some risks. Listening skills—you need to actively listen
to what your partner is saying.
Teamwork truly comes through in improv. You need to take what your partner gives you
and make it better. And we all face
situations in life that we do not like, but the key is turning them into a
positive.
The goal in improv is making your partner look like a
genius. This one truly resonates with
me, and I now think about it every day.
So many of us worry about making ourselves look good instead of making
those around us shine like stars.
Ego’s last piece of advice was [MS1] that
students need to know that there is a wide range of possibilities. Get out of your comfort zone and dip your
feet in the water. Finding out what you
do not like is probably as important as finding out what you do like. Eventually, you will find your passion.
Her goal this year is to bring improv to young people, and she
plans to teach improv to teachers so
that they can share these skills with their students.
I hope she inspires you as much as she inspires me.
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