Haley is in 10th grade at Envision Academy in Oakland.  She lives in Emeryville with her dad, stepmom and two younger brothers. When she was looking for a high school, Haley did her research: she looked at every possible option.  As an actress, she wanted to find a well-balanced school, where she would have strong academics and opportunities to act.  And she says when she walked into EA she just KNEW this was where she wanted to be.  This year, she will give her Benchmark Portfolio defense, a presentation every Envision student gives at the end of sophomore year.  Haley describes it as “proving that I’m ready to move on to upper division.”

On going to college: Both of my parents went to college for two years and they kind of just stopped going.  My dad has always had high expectations for me and I’ve always wanted to make sure I make him proud.  I’ve never really thought about being the first in my family to graduate from college, but I’ve always had high expectations for myself.  My dad is always telling me “I hope you are better than I am and than I was,” so that’s always been in my mind that I want to be better and even go above and beyond, so that’s been a big motivation for me.

On her teachers: Ms. Natalia, my 9th grade English teacher, was just absolutely amazing. The biggest difference between her and my previous teachers is that she didn’t let me stop. She kept on pushing me.  Every single day in class I was struggling and I was being challenged and that was a change for me.  I really liked that from her. She introduced me to new ways of thinking about things.  This year, I really like my theatre teacher, Ms. Mac, and I really like the class, too.  She’s just very open-minded and she pushes everyone.  She doesn’t think there are only certain people who can do this, she says “I know all of you are going to be able to do this.”

Check this blog through the year for updates on Haley, including how her Benchmark Portfolio goes.