During the 2014 Thespian Festival, a statewide conference and convention “like Comic-Con for high school theater kids” across Texas, seniors Rafael Guevara and Grecia Gonzalez earned $1,000 scholarships for acting.

“We got two of the scholarships,” Bryan Moses, Advanced and Technical Theater teacher, said. “The scholarships are for anything for theater. They have to either major or minor in theater or communications.”

This was the first thespian festival for both of the seniors that earned scholarships.

“Everything there was just amazing,” Gonzalez said. “The environment was really good, everybody was just friendly, it was my society. Everyone high fived each other, everyone said good morning to each other, it was just amazing. Everything was amazing.”

The experience was unforgettable, for both of the first time attendees.

“To be in that sort of atmosphere of people, you feel like you’re a part of that, you feel like you’ve opened up a whole huge actor world that you’re now a part of,” Guevara said. “It’s absolutely incredible. I would have to say it’s absolutely life changing.”

The scholarships are going to be put to good use by the students when they advance to college and even beyond.

“I really wanna go into the professional world. And go into like, maybe Broadway I’m not sure. But definitely go into professional theater, like community theaters or other types of theaters,” Guevara said.

“I plan to major in theater and acting,” Gonzalez said. “I want to become an actress, like movies and red carpets. Maybe even get nominated for an Oscar, that’s my goal. When I’m making my speeches I’ll thank Cy-Ridge Theater.”

Each student appreciates the time and effort they have put into theater.

“I got into theater and ended up falling in love with it,” Guevara said. “I would say really the experience of being with such a diverse group of people and having that feeling where you’re all working on one thing and you’re all helping each other. That family sort of thing.”

“The stage, the friendships, the bonds you create with everyone, it’s amazing. Theater is life changing,” Gonzalez said. “I didn’t expect to get all these opportunities and all these great experiences. The best high school experiences live in theater with everyone that’s there. It’s something that’s going to be hard for me to leave.”

You can see both of these scholarship winners on stage at the upcoming Seussical musical to be put on by drama on the last three days of January. Gonzalez will be portraying The Cat in the Hat and Guevara will be portraying a Wickersham brother.