This Ovid-Elsie High School senior has a dream to make it on Broadway

Meet McKenzey VanEtten, a senior at Ovid-Elsie High School. McKenzey is this week’s 6 News Extraordinary Student.

McKenzey told us she loves being on stage and it’s similar to expressing yourself in different ways. “It’s just so comforting to me when I get on stage,” McKenzey said. “I get to put on a new face and say, OK, I’m not worried about high school drama or boys or a test in math class. I get to put out a new face and say, OK, this is who I am and this is what I’m dealing with right now and I just get to be a new person.”

She said her favorite role has been Miss Hannigan in the play Annie. “She was really spicy and she was just really different to work with and I just love a character who’s unstable and she was just really fun to work with and play with.”

“She has grown into this woman who not only is a great actress and singer, but she’s a kid who just constantly works her hardest,” Mandy Bashore, drama teacher at Ovid-Elsie High School said. “She’s a really big leader when it comes to middle school students. She helps me in that class and she just is a leader among all of our kids and she’s phenomenal.”

McKenzey said her dream after high school is to go to New York and study theater. She really wants to go to the American Musical Dramatic Academy, to work with the school and get onto Broadway.

WLNS 6 News features Extraordinary local students who excel in the arts.  These stories air on Fridays in 6 News at 5:30 during the Feel Good Friday show, hosted by Chivon Kloepfer, and they are also found here: Extraordinary | WLNS 6 News.