Might 6, 2025
Rebecca Celestin defined why she left the Navy to pursue her love of appearing, notably at Howard College.
This soon-to-be Howard College graduate has had an uncommon journey to her appearing profession. Hailing from the Navy, Rebecca Celestin’s choice to pursue appearing resulted in her attendance on the HBCU.
Celestin at all times had a knack for the humanities, earlier than deciding to enter the navy. She started her research in movie faculty at Full Sail College in Winter Park, Florida. The Miami native then joined the Navy, finishing an eight-and-a-half-year stint within the navy. She was about to increase her contract, however her passions had different plans.
“I served within the Navy for eight and a half years, and whereas I used to be within the Navy, main as much as my second contract, I knew that that was going to be my final contract as a result of I used to be like, ‘I don’t really feel fulfilled.’ Nearly like I wasn’t doing what I used to be presupposed to. What I used to be meant to,” she advised The Dig, Howard’s faculty publication.
She had beforehand shied away from appearing, regardless of having an affinity for the craft. She doubted a future profession in it, primarily as a consequence of her look and potential disapproval by her Christian Haitian mother and father. Regardless of these fears, the dream nonetheless stayed along with her, forcing Celestin to make a transfer for her personal achievement. She selected Howard due to its renaming of its school of fantastic arts to honor the alum who not solely impacted the college but additionally the world of films.
“I selected Howard due to Chadwick A. Boseman,” defined Celestin. “The way in which he lived his life, to know that he was going by means of what he was going by means of and nonetheless was fulfilling what he believed was his goal. He nonetheless did what he felt God needed him to do, and needed him to depart on this earth, and I assumed that was only a highly effective, lovely factor.”
She added, “I’m like, ‘I wish to be that; I wanna do with what they’ve accomplished, and I wish to make the influence they’ve made within the business.’”
Whereas her time within the Navy didn’t final endlessly, her navy expertise developed the self-discipline to pursue a profession with lengthy, fluctuating hours. Furthermore, her age has provided the emotional knowledge required to carry out sure scenes.
“Since I’m pursuing this at an older age, I’ve a lot that I can seize from to say, ‘I’ve handled this, I felt this; I do know what that is,’ so I can deliver it to the work that I do on stage or on movie,” defined Celestin.
Since attending Howard, she has realized the “basis of appearing” alongside different programs, from playwriting to bop and singing. She believes studying all these aspects of efficiency will form one right into a “triple menace” within the business.
Celestin, whose stage identify is Rebecca Celeste, has earned applause from her friends and professors. She has earned a number of roles in a number of faculty performances, successful the 52nd Owen Dodson Award for Greatest Supporting Actress for her comedic function in The Home That Will Not Stand.
Now, she has a brand new love for Shakespeare that matches her new diploma. The upcoming HBCU graduate hopes to embark on this subsequent profession part.
“You don’t want a whole lot of time on this planet…You don’t want a whole lot of time in your business, in your subject to make a optimistic influence on the world, on the individuals subsequent to you. You don’t even should assume so grand so far as the world. Typically it’s simply your group, your inside circle that you would be able to encourage.”
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