Balancing a seven-hour school day, innumerable hours of homework and studying, and maintaining a social life is an incredibly difficult task for the average high school student; however, freshman John Galascio must manage it all while still finding the time to pursue his passion for filmmaking.

Galascio writes, directs, and edits short films while acting in them. Although he absolutely loves making short films, high school has immensely impacted the amount of time he can devote to them.

The process of making a short film used to take Galascio around three days. He spent the first day writing the script, the second day shooting it, and the third day editing all of the footage. Now, with school taking control of his schedule, this process takes Galascio eight days.

Galascio says, “Ever since I was a kid I was obsessed with Hollywood and Los Angeles. I was obsessed with the whole film industry, and I’ve always wanted to be an actor.”

Even with the elongated process, Galascio shows no signs of giving up on his dreams any time soon. Of course, hearing about a kid wanting to make it big one day and live amongst the celebrities isn’t anything new, but Galascio isn’t just another one of those kids. He has taken this childhood dream of his and turned it into a goal he actively pursues, despite the setbacks he now faces after entering high school.

Nevertheless, high school offers a few courses for him to master the skills required for filmmaking and one seemed to catch his eye. “There’s the Dig Com course; they have a whole studio in there. I thought that was really cool, so I wanted to get into that,” he explains. The Digital Communications course allows students to get a better understanding of basic equipment required for producing films. The school also hosts an annual film festival that Galascio “would love to film for” and he encourages other students to participate.