{"id":7365,"date":"2022-09-21T18:44:22","date_gmt":"2022-09-21T18:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/?p=7365"},"modified":"2022-09-22T02:53:16","modified_gmt":"2022-09-22T02:53:16","slug":"amaya-starks-story-thriving-after-deciding-on-a-best-fit-college","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/amaya-starks-story-thriving-after-deciding-on-a-best-fit-college\/","title":{"rendered":"Amaya Starks\u2019 Story: Thriving After Deciding on A Best-Fit College\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The beginning of Amaya Starks\u2019 college career came down to a choice.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She had all but packed her bags to head to New York City to study at an exceptional school when her mom encouraged her to take one more pause to consider what school would be the right fit for her.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter that reflection period,\u201d Starks said, \u201cI decided that I wanted to be around people that look like me and can relate to my experiences and teach me in a way that honors those experiences.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, instead of heading to the Big Apple, she left Kansas City bound for Atlanta, Ga. to pursue a degree in Theatre Performance Art and Music at Spelman College, the nation\u2019s oldest institution of higher education for Black women. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two years later, Starks couldn\u2019t be happier with that decision. Today, she encourages other students to look at the full picture before deciding on a best-fit major and school.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe advice I would give to future students is to follow your heart, but don’t have a romanticized view of college life or work life, in general,\u201d Starks said. \u201cUnderstand how your dream can be reached, and do not be afraid to take risks and put yourself out there. Make connections with the people that genuinely want you to grow and change. Do not stay stagnant. Evolve.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n

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During the summer of 2022, Amaya performed as Dorothy in the Kansas Academy of Theatrical Arts community theater production of “The Wiz.” <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Eventually, Starks\u2019 dream is to make it to New York, only then it will be on Broadway in a leading role.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI want to be under the big lights and convey a story to an audience. I want to build characters that people can relate to and reflect on.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until that day, she\u2019s taking in all her college experience has to offer.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has particularly enjoyed studying music as a universal language and worshipping at the iconic Sisters Chapel at Spelman.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starks is grateful for the way that performance art, both music and theater, has impacted her life.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has given me a voice when I thought I did not have one. In high school, I was able to play many characters that also inspired me while playing them. I have had many people come up to me after worship service at my college, saying that it has helped them and that I sounded good. It has helped me work through anxiety and sadness. And I can put on any form of musical theater song and sing my heart out, providing an outlet.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get started on finding your best-fit major<\/strong> by taking the MyMajors quiz at https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/college-major-quiz\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Explore colleges <\/strong>that match your best-fit major at https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/find-a-college\/<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Find a career<\/strong> that will put your degree to work at https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/career-list\/<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Theater and music student Amaya Starks encourages other students to look at the full picture before deciding on a best-fit major and school. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":7368,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[118],"tags":[57,238,97],"class_list":["post-7365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-search","tag-college","tag-college-search-2","tag-majors"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/blog-images.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7JFoP-1UN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7365"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7365\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7373,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7365\/revisions\/7373"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7368"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymajors.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}