Jaime Tanguay

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT JAIME TANGUAY

I was a very shy child. Social situations involving people I didn\'t know would result in me sitting on the outskirts or in the corner not speaking to anyone. My immediate family would attempt to counter this by having me do innocuous tasks like calling to order pizza or being the person to process transactions at the bank. I could do that stuff with enough pep talking, but the other big stuff still evaded me: birthday parties, trying out for the regional theatre group in our town, making friends in dance class. When I was a prospective Freshman for my High School, they held an Open House in June for extracurriculars as a chance for us to meet people and see what the school offered. I reluctantly went at my mother\'s suggestion. I was overwhelmed. There were so many people there I didn\'t know, and frankly I had no idea if I even wanted to do an activity. I\'m not an athlete. I really didn\'t want to do public speaking. I passed by the Performing Arts table, and the extremely extroverted kid behind the table stopped me by shouting, Hey! Do you have an interest in theatre? I froze. But people like him don\'t let you off lightly. I must have acquiesced in some way, because the next thing I know, he\'s extolling the virtues of the HCHS Performing Arts Club. How summer rehearsals enable you to make friends before school even starts. How everyone is super nice. How they\'re a family. Against my better judgment, I sign up for the Chorus (everyone can be in the Chorus). I may or may not have shaken the kid\'s hand when I started to leave. I believe he said he looked forward to seeing me at practice. What I do know is I did show up at that first practice that summer, despite being insanely afraid and knowing no one. And I did make friends that summer so I knew people before school even started. I made friends over the course of my four years in Performing Arts Club that I\'m still friends with today. I would volunteer to be a page\'s guard in Cinderella and the bearded lady in Carousel. And I would go on to actually audition and get a small singing part. The Performing Arts Club unlocked my love of theatre and made me the person I am today. And even though he doesn\'t know it, that day at the Open House, Adam Grabowski changed my life.