I walk through the grocery store, marking foods and other objects off my list as the buggy grows fuller with each item I put inside it. As I head toward Checkout 13, I glance at the different magazines all placed on their labeled racks and suddenly feel as if I’m looking in the mirror. On the cover of each magazine, there is a close-up of my face with a huge smile plastered across it as I pose for the paparazzi.

This is one of many moments I wish for in my future. I’ve always had the dream of becoming a famous actress and being in the spotlight, seeing myself on the TV screen, and having people all over the world stand in line for hours just to buy tickets to a movie I would be in. For now, I’m starting off in the small town of Bullard, Texas, taking my third year of theater.

I’ve been in many different productions for the school, some with small parts and some just as a crew member. My first huge role in a play was Beth Bradley in the December 2007 production of “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.” I’d never seen my director so proud of me. The way she smiled and praised me, and let me know I could never give up on my dream.

This year is my senior year of high school and my final year in the theater department. I’m playing Babette the feather duster in our Dec. 19-20 production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Babette is one of my favorite roles I’ve been able to play since being in high school. She’s flirty and fun, but she’s also an object I have to portray.

I’ve had to play a small child, an insane woman who thought she was Mozart’s wife and spoke with a German accent, a British woman who stuffed her dead father in a deep freeze and now a flirty cartoon character covered in feathers. No matter how many strange roles I’ve had to play, I’ve always found joy in making them come to life and making the audience believe they were real.

At my 10-year high school reunion, I hope my classmates don’t just remember me as being a performer in many of the school’s productions, but I hope their children will be able to recognize me from their television sets and be star-struck like I would be.