Sharing a Love for Musical Theater
With help from UCHealth, UNC junior Emily Reid looks forward to sharing theater with future generations.
For Theatre Education major Emily Reid, the UCHealth Scholarship is not only improving her life through higher education, it will also touch the lives of her future students as well.
Originally from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, Reid and her family moved to Golden after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. She was five years old at the time, and she brought with her a love for dance.
Reid began dancing when she was three years old. While attending Evergreen Middle School and Denver School of the Arts, she was able to combine her passion for performing with acting and singing and fell in love with Broadway and musical theater.
“I began thinking about what I wanted to do with my future,” recalled Reid. “My entire life I’d looked at my schoolteachers and wanted to be exactly like them. In high school, I started interning with Jefferson County Public Schools in their Jeffco Summer of Early Learning program, a program targeted towards helping K-3 students catch up and prepare for the upcoming school year. That internship helped me solidify my passion for teaching. When it came time to decide what I wanted to major in, I looked at my two passions: performing and teaching.”
Reid’s father is a criminalist for the Arvada Police Department and her mother is the financial secretary for the Jeffco Remote Learning Program. Her older brother is working toward his associate degree from Red Rocks Community College, but for Emily, choosing to come to UNC was an easy decision.
“UNC was close to home and was one of the few schools in the country that offered a program specifically tailored to Theatre Education,” she said.
Reid credits the scholarship support she received from UCHealth in helping her pursue her degree while allowing her family to defer her need for student loans. UCHealth is a Colorado-based nonprofit integrated health system with 12 hospitals and more than 150 UCHealth-owned and affiliated clinics serving patients in Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska.
With a deep commitment to improving the lives of people they serve, UCHealth has generously provided support of scholarships. Thanks to UCHealth’s generous support, UNC was able to award more than $64,000 in scholarships to 46 students this year
UCHealth has also support capital projects across campus, such as the Campus Commons, and improvements to the College of Performing and Visual Arts — including support of the All-Steinway Initiative. This support enabled UNC to replace its old piano fleet with 96 new Steinway & Sons pianos and become one of just 230 All-Steinway Schools in the world.
For Reid, that commitment means she can continue working toward her degree and post-graduation plans.
“After I graduate, I plan to become a high school drama teacher. I’m aware of how rare it is to find a job as a drama teacher, so I plan on moving wherever I can find a position, even if that position takes me abroad,” she explains. Her future plans and goals include teaching in a community theatre setting and establishing and managing a performing arts studio.
“Thank you so much for your generosity,” Reid wrote in a recent thank you note to UCHealth. “Your contribution will greatly help me on my journey to getting my teaching certification and changing the lives of future generations.”
“The arts can spark joy, inspire empathy and bring people together, all factors that contribute to healthy communities,” said UCHealth Greeley Hospital President Marilyn Schock. “We are honored to be able to support performing arts students along their journey to improve lives and connect cultures.”
—Debbie Moors
