By Hannah Joo, Norman North High School
When tortoises are in their shell, they are safe from predators. Survival forces them to venture past their haven and see the world beyond.
Rylie Lockerman’s shell was constructed with shyness and a lack of connection, which kept her safe from the opinions of others. Passion for the arts and creative pursuits broke her past that shell and brought clarity for her future.
At 8 years old, Rylie discovered her passion for theater by joining the Christian Youth Theater in Austin, Texas. She played side roles for the CYT in productions like Music Man, Annie, The Wizard of Oz and Fiddler on the Roof, with The Sound of Music being her favorite.
“It was our local theater that we do shows with and so I did that for about eight years, I think, and it was really fun,” she said.
Theater was her way of expression and growing.
However, Rylie’s focus on theater became distracted as high school stress became a factor. “And I was more focused on getting good grades,” she said, “rather than focusing on my hobbies, which kind of made me sad.”
She was forced to stop her onstage life to maintain good grades, but contributed smaller roles in the theater community through crew and drama club.
As a result, Rylie began to question her options for the future.
“It sounds kinda cheesy, but I was just trying to find myself through high school,” Rylie said, “because I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I was like, Oh, I like theater. But then when I go out in the real world, by myself, I’m like, what am I gonna do?”
She knew she wanted to do something in the creative realm that could be spent toward her academics and useful for college, but wouldn’t take up so much time.
In her sophomore year Rylie discovered her school’s newspaper. Newspaper provided Rylie with more connections and a new “crew” to work with. She describes the class as a cute little community where everyone can be themselves. Through the newspaper she was able to connect with other students doing what she loves.
“I like it because we can kind of, I don’t know, be comfortable with each other and grow together,” she said.
More importantly, Rylie had discovered her love for writing and broadcasting through journalism by joining newspaper. It brought her a form of expression that she no longer has access to through theater and gave her a way to use her creativity.
However, even without theater being relevant in her new hobbies, theater played an invaluable role in Rylie’s path to life. Not only did she find joy in the craft growing up, but it fostered her interest in all kinds of arts, such as drawing and crochet, and opened her doors to journalism.
“I feel like they kind of relate,” said Rylie, who is entering her 2024 year, “because, you know, you have to kind of be outgoing when you’re talking to people and, I don’t know, I think it helps with my interview skills a little bit and being able to connect with people through this sort of creative outlet.”
Rylie hopes to attend the University of Oklahoma and explore communications. She plans to try all the options in journalism like photography, broadcasting and writing.
By showing her how to connect with other people, nurturing her creative nature, and giving her a future in journalism, these activities showed Rylie the way out of her shell.
