Hi! My name is Jonah Greenebaum and I am a student at Freestyle Academy studying Junior English, Digital Media, and Film. For as long as I can remember, I’ve loved reading and writing. When I was young, I’d fill many little (lost) notebooks with random plots and go make up scenarios to act out with friends (often involving swords and heroics). Somewhere growing up, this transferred to more actual stories and characters, and I also discovered photography. Then I realized that film is essentially combining these two things. Since then a big passion has been create, study, and, of course, watch films or television. I tend to be into more fantasy (“Avatar: The Last Airbender” and “Lord of the Rings”), but always am trying to broaden my horizon (“Before Sunrise” is one of my favorite movies). With all of this, Freestyle seemed the next logical step to make if I wanted to pursue that dream into something a little bigger.

Outside of Freestyle, I try to be as adventurous as I can, within my constraints. One of my favorite things to do is go new places and explore or go on a hike without being entirely sure where it leads. I am fairly introverted, however, so much of my time is spent inside, cooling off. I’ll play video games, watch a favorite show, or stress about Philadelphia sports (being from there, it’s been ingrained inside me). Sometimes I’ll tell stories in other forms: work on a novel or take photos. Sometimes all I need is a nice walk with my favorite music at sunset. A nice balance of adventure and comfort.

With my very limited time at Freestyle, my favorite thing about is the learning style. We do study things and we are easing in, but we also spend a lot of time creating, learning from experience rather than studying it and having one big thing to test that knowledge. So far, it feels like we are allowed to make mistakes in a way that a lot of other classes don’t allow.