This past Halloween my 9 year-old Goddaughter, Hazel, requested that I attend Career Day at her school to share the ins and outs of my career as a photographer. Evidently she thinks I'm a photographer because I'm usually shooting photos when she sees me.
I called a meeting with her and "discussed" the possibility of my attendance as, I don't know...an actor? She gave the "go ahead", fortunately. I didn't have the guts to ask her if she thinks I'm a better photographer than actor.
I tossed a few ideas out there like bringing a few old/new headshots, a demo reel of past work and maybe writing a scene so that they could perform in the class. The performance part really got her excited!
So I wrote a 4-page, 6 person scene for them. I included some unisex character names so it would be easier to assign roles to the students.
I spoke to 4 classes total; 3 were 4th/5th graders and 1 was 2nd/3rd graders. It was a complete blast! We all had a great time and I heard a few days later that the students really enjoyed it.
What I didn't know until just before I went home for the holidays was that the students wrote letters of appreciation to me. When Hazel's father dropped me off at LAX for my flight he gave me the letters.
I'm admittedly a quite emotional person and the letters really touched me.
http://www.stephonfuller.com