Author Spotlight
Libby Marsh
Jill Rice:
Senior Jill Rice is a self-proclaimed indecisive person. Maybe she can barely decide which cereal to grab off of the shelf for breakfast, but she’s been sure about Tulane University since seventh grade.
Jill was only five years old when she first heard her dad utter the name of his alma mater. She grew up hearing about Tulane and spent her childhood taking trips to New Orleans visiting the school. She has loved the city’s culture and school since then.
“Nothing really compares to New Orleans in my opinion,” Jill said. “It has so many great opportunities and programs to do, and so it kind of just became my mindset.”
Jill spent weeks on end writing, rewriting and editing her application for the school, and even making multiple versions of essays — putting far more effort into it than any other throwaway school. On the day acceptance letters came out, Jill was terrified.
“I went to school that day and my friends were all very concerned,” Jill said. “If I didn’t get in, they were like, ‘We’re never going to see you again. You’re not going to leave your room.’”
Jill sat camera ready to record her reaction, mouse hovering over the unread email on her computer. She paused, terrified she wasn’t going to get in, and slowly clicked on it. She sat frozen, in shock unable to comprehend the message on her screen. She’d been accepted to the school that she had been thinking about for over ten years.
“I was so taken aback because I did not expect to get in,” Jill said. “I was really excited when it hit me.”
Immediately after, Jill texted her extended family group chat telling them to come visit her in New Orleans later on. The rest of the night she celebrated by eating ice cream with her friends.
Abby Stein:
“Oh shit,” senior Abby Stein muttered, staring at her computer at the long-awaited email.
“What?” her dad asked.
“Well,” Abby said, “I just got into the Fashion Institute of Technology.”
Abby has dreamed about her future in New York City for years — loving its rich history and connection to fashion — and grew up sewing miniature clothes for her American Girl Dolls in third grade, and cultivating her sense of fashion.
Sophomore year, she began searching for schools in New York and discovered the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. Between the location and unconventional layout — being stretched across a block of the city and split by a street — she instantly became dead-set on attending.
“She’s always loved New York, and once she found that college and the field that she loves, there was really no turning back for her,” Abby’s mom Kim Stein said.
No matter how many times her mom tried to urge her to look into other colleges or cities, Abby stood firm, only applying to a couple extra safety schools.
“I knew that there was a chance I wasn’t going to get in, but I definitely lived in a world in my head where I’d already gotten in,” Abby said.
Abby has spent her high school career developing her style and learning more about the fashion industry. While she’s never been much for designing and making clothes — preferring to match outfits rather than sew them — she still wants to explore the industry’s business side by majoring in Fashion Business Management.
“I don’t sew as much as someone who necessarily would pursue a design major, and that’s why I didn’t want to go design track because it wasn’t my thing,” Abby said, “But I love using clothes to express myself and so definitely, I still love fashion.”
Fritz Sullivan:
Riding to a competition with his Kansas City Arts Coalition singing group, senior Fritz Sullivan was preparing to hop off the bus when he received an email. He froze. Are you OK? Someone asked him, but he could barely hear. He had just been accepted to the University of Miami.
After seeing all of his older siblings apply to college, Fritz felt the need to commit to a university as well, just as a third grader. He decided he wanted to move to Florida and attend the University of Miami. Other than the weather, there was no reason for his choice — but Fritz still told everyone he knew that he would go there one day and play soccer. He became so adamant that his parents even bought him a University of Miami flag for Christmas that year.
Eventually this obsession faded and the flag was put into the closet to collect dust, but after many years, Fritz came across the University of Miami again when looking not for soccer but for top music schools.
“Later on, when I was looking at what I wanted to do, and I was looking at programs that had good programs for [music], Miami was one of the first ones to pop up,” Fritz said. “I [thought] that [it’d] be funny if I actually end up going there.”
According to Fritz, the University of Miami is one of the few schools with a program combining economics and singing: the Modern Artist Development and Entrepreneurship and Creative American Music Program.
“There’s a very specific program that I was looking for, which is songwriting and performing and playing music, but also learning how to make money doing it,” Fritz said.
Fritz sometimes finds himself questioning reality, wondering if he truly was accepted or thinking that one day he’ll wake up to another email saying that there was a mistake.
“There’s still times, even now, where I feel like it’s not real and I get really paranoid about getting my grades perfect so they don’t rescind my offer,” Fritz said.
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