Sarah Rashed
I was a student at Freestyle Academy from 2019-2021. During my time here I learned a lot about creative writing, editing, story building, music composition, and so much more. Throughout my classes– Digital Media, English, and Film– I was given a multitude of tools to take on and master. I learned all about the Adobe apps like After Effects, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. along with others such as Reason. I was given many new ways of creating such as in English with writing lyrical essays. Most importantly, I was given the experience in practically every creative area you can think of, and the opportunity to find my niche. Film was the most significant, as I got to explore every area in pre-production, production, and post-production, and I found out what I wanted to pursue as a career after Freestyle. I found that my love of organizing and project management fit extremely well for roles like Producer or Assistant Director. My last year here gave me the opportunity to explore those further and I even centered my whole zenith project around it.
Being at Freestyle wasn’t without challenges, and of course COVID-19 was the biggest hurdle of the bunch. At the start, being a filmmaker and general creator seemed impossible in lockdown conditions. I kept thinking about how I was going to make films when I can’t even be within 6ft of someone or how I could cast actors if they’d have to wear a mask. Overall, I was just frustrated and discouraged, as I felt my work wouldn’t be good anyway. Having to tackle the issue of a pandemic allowed me to grow as a person and a creator. I was forced to deal with tough issues that would’ve inevitably come up in my experiences down the road in whatever form it took. Not everything was going to be perfectly set no matter how much I organized and planned, so being thrown a difficult situation along with challenging projects set me up for success in the future.
Freestyle Academy is super important to me because of the opportunities I was given in order to grow within my work and as a person. Apart from that, I loved the way I could set my own bar, being as ambitious as I wanted. Every project was pretty much a free for all in terms of creativity, so it was always up to me to choose how much of a challenge I wanted. This is what I imagined the real world would be like, and being taken so seriously in this way made me feel important as a high school student. I could dictate my path and learn from my own mistakes just as you would in a realistic setting. Not only could I set my own pace, but I also had the utmost support from my teachers, Mr.Florendo, Mr.Greco, and Mr.Taylor. They were willing to give an arm and a leg for any project I needed help on because they wanted me to be the best I could be.
While Freestyle Academy was and will always be the gift that keeps on giving, it is still a high school program. I have truly been set up for success in creative areas across Digital Media, English, and Film, and I’m ready to take my skills beyond school and apply it to meaningful work. I’m continuing my studies at DePaul University with a major in Film & Television, and I imagine with all the experience and mistakes under my belt, I can make the best and most meaningful work, being absolutely unstoppable.