By Julia Oudiz
Staff Writer
Golden Globe winner and Mira Costa alumnus Rachel Bloom visited Mira Costa on March 23 in the auditorium to speak with students and give them guidance for what to do when they graduate from high school.
Mira Costa English teacher Maddie Hutchinson and Mathews contacted Bloom and organized Bloom’s visit through her assistants. A notification for Bloom’s conference was written in the daily bulletin, and a total of 100 students attended the event over the two office hours.
“It was great,” Mathews said. “She was very inspirational and funny, and open and willing to present herself.
During the event, Bloom answered questions in the format of a jeopardy game with five sections, such as personal questions and advice. The event was originally only open to drama students, but Mathews felt that it was helpful to make it available to all students. Bloom visited three drama classes and one period of Mrs. Hutchinson’s English class as well, to speak with students.
“I always think that any time you can bring in alumni to talk about their experiences and what they’ve done to pursue their career, it’s helpful for students to figure out what they want to do [and] if they want to pursue something,” Mathews said.
After acting in Mira Costa’s drama department and graduating in 2005, Bloom successfully became the lead role on the CBS Warner Brothers comedy television show that she created, “Crazy Ex Girlfriend.” She then won best actress at the Golden Globes for this show.
“I really love teaching and mentoring,” Bloom said. “It’s important to me that I use my experience and good fortune to make other people’s lives better.”
Bloom hopes that students learn that the habits they develop in high school are important for their future. One piece of advice that she offered to students was to make health one’s priority, and develop time management habits for school work, while getting enough sleep.
“Once you leave school, nobody is going to be on you for doing your work,” Bloom said. “If you slack off, if you fail, no one is going to give you an “f,” no one is going to call you into their office, nobody is going to really care. The only person truly looking out for your success is you. Your destiny is not out there in the ether for you to magically run into it one day, your destiny is only up to you.”
Costa Drama president, Dana Beech said that Bloom’s talk with students went well because she was honest, funny, spoke from her heart, and related to high school students. Most of Bloom’s advice was directed towards high school and what to do after graduating.
“[I learned] to develop strong study skills while you are in high school,” Beech said. “She said it might seem like a cliché thing to say, but it was one of the things she wishes she did more of [because] high school sets up your habits for the rest of your life.”
In addition, Beech thought that seeing that someone who came from where Mira Costa high school students are now and seeing Bloom’s success and the passion she has for what she does was inspiring.
“I really liked how true she was,” Beech said. “She didn’t put on an act because she’s a big celebrity, she goofed around and expressed herself, which in itself was very admirable.”
Bloom’s advice for students to prepare themselves for after graduating is to develop good study habits and meet deadlines while in high school. In her opinion, the work put into a play or musical is similar to working on a television show.
“It’s our differences that give us our voice and it’s our differences that make you unique and stand out from other people,” Bloom said.
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