4 Features
ROUNDUP: December 6, 2017
Kathrina shares her ‘Voice’
Alumnus takes center stage while pursuing musical theater ANNA CLARK Features Editor @AnnaClarkReport
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n the Philippines, a little girl participated in singing competitions. When she moved to the United States in 2002 at 9, she continued to compete and used her winnings to support her family. Fast forward 15 years, and Kathrina Feigh is still competing, but now on national television. Feigh, a 24-year-old Pierce alumni and a contestant on season 13 of the NBC singing competition show “The Voice,” lives in New York City, where she recently graduated from Pace University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Musical Theater. Feigh, who was born in Manilla, began singing at 2, starting with the song, “Can You Feel The Love Tonight.” From a young age, her parents told her to not compare herself to others, but to do her best. “I am very passionate about my work,” Feigh said. “My parents have a great deal of responsibility in engraving that on me from a young age, whether for school or for music, they’ve always pushed me to be the best that I can be.” At 5, her mom asked her if she loved to sing, she replied, “Yes.” “She put me through singing lessons, ballet lessons and piano lessons,” Feigh said. “I wouldn’t be here without my parents because they really were the ones that pushed me to go and support that music.” Feigh said her love of singing continued when she moved to the United States, where her competitions meant more than just sharing her voice. “We aren’t super financially stable, so that was a way of me helping out my family by winning competitions,” Feigh said. Feigh was part of the Musical Theatre Department when she attended Pierce from 2011-2013. Feigh comes from a family
Brian Caldera/ Roundup “The Voice” contestant and Pierce alumnus, Kathrina Feigh, sings a soul song in the Pierce College Darkroom Studio in Woodland Hills, Calif. on Nov. 17, 2017. that works in the medical field, and she said she planned to go to school to study pharmaceuticals, but changed her mind after she attended Pierce. “When I got to Pierce, that’s when it [singing] really took off,” Feigh said. “I took a lot of classes in theater and that’s when I realized.” Feigh said that Pierce was a beneficial part in furthering her
education. “I know we [Pierce] have a great transfer rate, and what better way to seal the deal than in New York City and get that musical theater degree,” she said. Feigh said that being a part of the Music and Theatre Departments at Pierce shaped her into who she is now. “I owe it all to Denise Gibson and also Valorie Grear,” Feigh
said. Performing Arts Department instructor Denise Gibson wrote Feigh’s college letter of recommendation, and said that she knew Feigh had a career ahead of her. “Any student like that, when they ask for a letter of recommendation, I almost jump to do it because I know they are going to be successful,” Feigh said.
Gibson said that Feigh was always pleasant to work with, and her colleagues thought so, too. “When you see something like that, you know that they are going to work well in group scenarios and in group casts and musicals,” Gibson said. Gibson said that she thought Feigh would go into musical theater. “She also has a really beautiful
singing voice,” Gibson said. “I knew that would go far. She worked really hard as a dancer to become that triple threat.” Valorie Grear, an instructor in the Theater Arts and Dance Department, said that Feigh took her acting class in fall 2011 and was one of the top students. [For the full story visit theroundupnews.com]
Creative outlets for at-risk youth English instructor uses creative writing to teach incarcerated
JESSICA VAUGHAN Reporter @JVaughanRoundup The arts are often used as an escape. English instructor Dustin Lehren found that incorporating literature in juvenile halls allowed atrisk youth a creative outlet. Now he’s bringing that creativity to Pierce as a creative writing instructor. Throughout his high school and community college experience, Lehren was not a fan of English classes and did not excel in them. It took one teacher in community college to show him the subject in a different light, making Lehren realize a latent passion. Once he transferred to CSUN, he joined a film program that led him to discover that he really wanted to write and create films. When he took a creative writing course at the university, there was a part of the curriculum that taught playwriting. Through this, he discovered his passion. With the help of a professor at CSUN, a course was created that used playwriting to work with at-risk young men on probation. Lehren said his goal was to incorporate something he was passionate about to help others. Lehren said his first job after attending CSUN was teaching playwriting in prisons. He worked in the juvenile halls Camp Glenn Rockey in San Dimas, Camp David Gonzalez in Malibu and a correctional facility in Chino, where he taught young men ages 15 to 25. Lehren said he worked with a
Samantha Bravo/ Roundup English Professor, Dustin Lehren earned a bachelor’s degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis in playwriting from CSUN. Lehren poses at Pierce College in Woodland Hills, Calif. On Thurs, Nov. 30, 2017. theater company called The Unusual Suspects. He said this company mostly worked with at-risk youth. They collaborated with Lehren to have him be the first teacher to go into these prisons to teach creative writing.
Lehren said there were other coaches who helped with directing, teaching and acting, but he was in charge of the writing aspect and getting students to produce a story. His job was to facilitate the writing and have his students write plays to
perform. “I never viewed myself as a teacher until after that experience,” Lehren said. “The Hustler’s Epiphany” was the first play the young prisoners wrote and performed.
The three times Lehren did this, he said he noticed a pattern in the story lines. He said many were about someone who needed redemption and had an epiphany about their life and turned it around. Lehren said his role was to teach
those young men how to write creatively. “It was the best feeling ever,” Lehren said. “It was much more rewarding than writing my own play and getting accolades for that.” After this experience, Lehren said this is when he started seriously thinking about teaching. Lehren earned a bachelor’s degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing and a master’s degree in creative writing with an emphasis in playwriting from CSUN. This is his first semester teaching creative writing at Pierce, whereas before fall 2017, he primarily taught English classes. Department Chair of English Donna Accardo said that Lehren does his best to help students understand the creative process of writing and really cares about student success. “What stood out to me about him was you hear his passion for teaching as soon as you hear him talk about teaching,” Accardo said. She said Lehren is committed to success and his love for literature and writing is obvious. First-year psychology major Arche Gososo said he was pleasantly surprised with how fun English can be after enrolling in Lehren’s creative writing class. Gososo said that Lehren’s style of teaching allows students to feel more comfortable with creating answers to thought provoking questions, and he encourages students to create original ideas. [For the full story visit theroundupnews.com]