After four years walking amongst thousands of artists, senior drama major Sarah Franquelo has been inducted into OCSA’s illustrious Hall of Fame. Since her freshman year at OCSA, Franquelo has proven herself to be a hardworking and inspiring member of the OCSA student body, constantly putting in time and effort to help those who need it despite any challenges that may arise and taking on any opportunities that may further her goal of helping people.

One such way is her tackling the mantle of President of the Student Government Association, the school’s student council. Joining this past year, Franquelo has dedicated her time to close the divide between students and administration. “I always knew I wanted to be able to inspire people, and I found that there was a little bit of a lack of communication between students and administration. I wanted to be able to form that bridge and help close that gap to be able to better the students’ lives and careers and be able to connect with more people-not just students but faculty members and help make OCSA a little bit better,” she stated.

When asked about what she wished to leave with the students of OCSA as president of the SGA, Franquelo said, “I wanna be able to spread this message of finding your own path. Something I’ve learned this past semester that no matter what challenges you face you should always push through. I want to inspire people and use the things I went through this past year and spread this message of this Latina woman who came forward and was very scared to share her voice and use that story to inspire other people to use their voices no matter what.”

Franquelo also hosted a focus group with the superintendent of Osceola County, Dr. Debra Pace. The group consisted of taking two students from each school in the county and putting them together with Dr. Pace to discuss what could be improved on.

This year she also directed OCSA’s production of The Last Five Years, a two-person musical that tells the story of Jamie Wellerstein and his five-year relationship with Cathy Hiatt, starting from their first date to the eventual divorce of the pair. When asked about her biggest inspiration, Franquelo said, “My biggest inspiration is actually the person who directed me in my first Blackbox, Caleb Patterson, who graduated in 2020. And ever since being in that production, I’ve gained my directing style from her.”

Although it was her first year in the SGA, she had always been involved with the student body and different extracurriculars since sophomore year, acting as the lead role in OCSA’s production of, The Shadow Box. She also joined the Thespians, taking on straight superiors each and every year for her entire time there, winning for a variety of different performances like solo musical, duet musical, large group musical and more.

During her junior year, she also took on a variety of different opportunities, including Joining the newly founded Film Club, which she eventually would become Co-president of, during her junior year, taking it over with Senior Drama major Amber Cesari. During the meetings under their jurisdiction, they would host discussions about movies from the films themselves to how they are created, how you can make your own, and films that inspire them. She also performed and recorded her Ted Talk on the Stanford Prison Experiment, a psychological study that showed how people acted based off the roles they were given in society.

She is also an AP Capstone candidate, having worked towards getting the prestigious diploma since her junior year, finishing during her senior year.

In an interview about Franquelo, director and head of the Drama program, Lemont Clegg, had this to say about her, “Sarah has been an outstanding drama major since she began four years ago. She has proven herself as a very very good actor and director, and I was thrilled when she also decided to run for student government president, because of her compassion for the world, her understanding for the world and her understanding for the need for young people like her to change the world and know it doesn’t get better if they don’t do it. So, Sarah is easily one of the most impressive drama students or students at this school that I’ve ever met, and I congratulate her hard work.”

Franquelo is also highly respected among her classmates, when asked about his opinion on Franquelo, junior drama major Luke Gabriel had this to say, “Like any person, she’s made mistakes, but she is a lovely person and a strong director. I loved acting under her direction personally and getting to know her through that.”

As Franquelo moves onto greater endeavors, she leaves this message for her underclassmen, “Just because the path you’re set on now changes, doesn’t mean you’ve failed in any way. It simply means things changed, and you’re going down the path you want to be and if you keep working hard and keep having your drive you will end up on your own term.”