Granville ’23 grads dream of Broadway, helping others, sports success

admin 0 Comments May 21, 2023

, 2023-05-21 05:01:55,

The Granville High School class of 2023 has big dreams.

These Blue Aces dream of starring roles on Broadway, helping others with mental health challenges, becoming doctors, living abroad and so much more.

The Advocate spoke with six Granville graduating seniors about their high school years and their plans after tossing their graduation caps on May 28.

Cory Hammond has Broadway dreams

Cory Hammond hopes to one day see his name in lights —so much so that he’s graduating after just three years of high school to get a head start on his dream.

As a toddler, he was always dancing around his family’s living room, so his parents enrolled him in classes at Patty’s Dance Center in Newark, where he’s been dancing for 14 years.

“I loved it. I never wanted to leave. It was a countdown every week from when I’d be able to go back,” Cory said.

He continued to excel, signing with an agent by the time he was 13 years old.

Cory also joined Tremaine Dance Conventions, a Los Angeles-based group that hosts instructional conventions. He has traveled the country as a demonstrator for the group, helping instruct dancers from ages 3 to 60. He’s even appeared on a “Good Morning America” Halloween special when he was just an eighth grader.

But even with all of those commitments, Cory has been active in the arts at Granville High School. Cory was a part of symphonic choir and acapella singing groups. And if that wasn’t enough, he was one of the leads in this spring’s production of “Chicago: Teen Edition.”

He plans on majoring in musical theater at New York City’s Pace University this fall.

Cory said he’s known he wanted to pursue a professional dance career since those early days at Patty’s when he overheard another parent say he was going to be on Broadway someday.

“I didn’t even know what Broadway was but I was like, ‘I am going to be on Broadway someday.’ I think it was just then that I heard the words ‘Broadway’ and I just wanted to be in it,” he said.

Abby Sanders travels to Poland, Israel for profound experience

This spring, Abby Sanders walked where thousands of her Jewish ancestors walked before as a way to remember them and celebrate the life she now leads.

She traveled to Poland and Israel for the International March of the Living, an annual educational program that brings people from across the globe to Poland and Israel to study the history of the Holocaust.