About Me
My name is Athena Driesen. In 2024-2025, I was a student a Freestyle animation student and In 2025-2026, I was a Freestyle design student, graduating in 2026. I’m an only child, but I have two dogs, named Sierra and George. I am half Taiwanese, half Belgian. My favorite subject is math. I was part of the mock trial club, and I was a lead set designer for the MVHS theater in high school. I’ve been a part of every show at the theater since my freshman year, through mostly set design but also costume design, and often management.
My core values in life are imagination, organization, and dedication to excellence. Through working in the theater and managing production of the sets, I have learned the immense importance of each of these values. To finish the sets in time for the shows, I need to make sure that every single piece is well planned out, and assigned to a responsible and reliable person, which takes tons of organization. The sets also take imagination, since the goal of the sets is to bring to life the world of the story. Each aspect of the set must connect to the story in some way, and imagination is the key to that. Dedication to excellence is what ties it all together, since no one would get anything done if we weren’t all surely invested in the program. Although all of these apply to theater, they are also the values that most influence the rest of my life, including school, art, friendship, and the way I navigate the world.
I have been drawing since I was six years old, and taking lessons throughout that time. I like to read, especially science fiction and folklore. I like the creative mechanics of science fiction, and the insight into human thought that folklore reveals. I like listening to music, my favorite artists being MICO, Kesha, CIX, BTS, Daryl Hall & John Oates, and Shaboozey.
At Freestyle Academy, I wanted to learn how to be more efficient when working on animation projects, and how to be realistic with my plans for said projects. I wanted to learn to tell more creative stories, and integrate more thoughtful and nuanced details into my characters. I wanted to learn how to just be generally competent with technology.
The things I valued most about Freestyle are the community and the opportunities available to the students. The smaller classes and project based learning are great for my specific learning style, and are also very helpful in creating a collaborative and supportive community. I also valued the opportunities for work experience within the creative field. I intend to take advantage of more of those opportunities in the future.
I think I’ve learned a lot, but mainly I’ve made a lot of friends. My parents were telling me to quit after junior year because i struggled with the grading system, but I stayed because I didn’t want to lose those friends, and I think that is what will stay with me in the future. Also, the Adobe workspace is very useful.
