Neela Gerayli has been at St. Margaret’s since sixth grade and is excited for her senior year, especially for the senior water balloon fight and senior pranks. But, she is ready to embrace the next chapter of her life. Neela, an avid lover of bacon and Nutella, is hoping to attend film school after high school, even though she knows that film can be a challenging career path. She is undeterred by the challenges and says “even if I don’t succeed, it’s okay, life goes on.” She would encourage others to adopt this mindset as well so that they have the confidence to put themselves out there to, “try new things and step out of their comfort zones.” She says it took her a while to explore different options and to figure out what she wanted to major in, and she wants to let other students know that this is okay!
Neela’s pursuit of a film career comes from her passion for singing and acting. She has really enjoyed doing theater and singing throughout high school and in her personal life. She has played Little Red in an Into the Woods production outside of school, and choir has always been one of her favorite classes. She says that theater has “always been a part of her life,” and she has been doing plays since the 1st grade. Neela says she “never gets bored [of singing and acting],” and would definitely encourage others to try it out. She also loves movie-musicals, particularly The Greatest Showman and Aladdin.
Neela learned a lot from her high school experience and has some important advice for younger students. She thought that freshman year was challenging, not really because of a huge increase in workload, but due to the transition from middle school to high school and the change in environment and stakes. She says “I wish I had taken [freshman year] more seriously… Like, as seriously as I do now. ” Essentially, your freshman self has a direct impact on your senior self, even if you change and grow throughout high school. Neela believes that everyone changes in high school, including herself, with the most apparent changes occurring to your friend groups. She says “everyone says it, but nobody believes it. Your friends do change...” Because of this, she emphasizes “You don’t know why your friends are changing… do not let the people around you or your friends define who you are and your worth.”
Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
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