March Student of the Month: Jackson Zamora is a true showman
Whether watching a movie or performing on stage, Jackson Zamora loves a good story and has an innate ability to break down scenes to understand why they move audiences.
He credits his grandfather, aka Papa, with his appreciation of classic movies and excellent taste in a good story.
"He always used to say 'We're the A-Team,' and we'd go and get up to all sorts of shenanigans and hijinks together," said Zamora. "He showed me lots of movies when I was a kid, and he's a big reason why I'm such a nerd."
Zamora, a Wesleyan Christian School senior, is one of two students chosen as March Students of the Month in the Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise and Patriot Auto Group program.
Since an early age, Zamora has always found himself in the spotlight.
"Well, I have been acting a fool for a long time," said Zamora. "I've always had a fascination with movies, and voice acting was a big fascination of mine when I was younger, and I was always doing little voices and trying to figure stuff out."
Throughout his school career, Zamora has been in dozens of performances but calls his performance of Otto Frank (Anne Frank's father) his "magnum opus."
"It was great to be able to tell the story of a survivor and how those words can still mean something to people," said Zamora. "It was very serious and got very real with different people having real arguments and being short with each other having to live in an attic together, but having that relationship with your friends and being able to push each other's acting ability."
For Zamora, it isn't about the praise or the applause at the end of the show. It's about connecting with people, sharing stories and passing on his passion for storytelling and knowledge to others.
"I love being able to share moments with people and understand scenes and films based on the way the music is sounding based on what the characters need to be feeling," said Zamora. "I love being able to try and emulate that and show others and get others fired up for character development."
Zamora plans to head off to Mid-America Christian University to double major in social studies and secondary education. He hopes to be a teacher and a youth pastor.
"I want to be a high school history teacher, but I want also to be a youth pastor, and I hope to work in Christian education," said Zamora. " I want to guide others through things that I'm going through, things I've seen my friends and underclassmen go through and things I've needed a lot of help overcoming in my life."
"I want to have hard conversations that people aren't willing to have, and my goal is to try and make those hard conversations more commonplace," he said.
This article originally appeared on Bartlesville Examiner-Enterprise: March Student of the Month: Jackson Zamora is a true showman
