Debby Ryan Meet & Greet - Sept. 2, 2012

Early last month, there was no stopping the constant talk about an event called

the Naperville Jaycees Last Fling. There, Debby Ryan was doing a meet and greet! I 

decided that I would head over. Coincidentally, I ended up meeting with NBT winner, 

Shealeigh. Born and raised in the Chicago area, Shealeigh has lived in the nearby

Bartlett all of her life and lives there to this day. So before meeting Debby, I got to speak

with Shealeigh as well as her mother for quite a while. It was eventually time to chat with

miss Debby Ryan. The two of us got to say so little to each other, but she was very sweet

and it was an honor to have been given the lovely experience of meeting her once again.

It was also wonderful getting to catch up with Shealeigh. That star-filled day was amazing

and one of the best days ever!

Victoria Justice Concert - Aug. 9, 2012

During the summer, I had an experience like no other. I attended one of Victoria Justice's

first concerts on the "Make It In America Tour." The young actress and pop singer sang

songs from her hit Nickelodeon comedy series, "Victorious," as well as songs of her own

that she has only sung in concert once before. The new tunes continue to remain unheard

by most of her fans, but are expected to be released early next year or later this year. The

opening act of the show was Max Schneider, an amazingly talented singer and actor who

is best known for his role as Zander in the Nickelodeon sitcom, "How To Rock." Both

Victoria and Max did an awesome job, and though I didn't get to meet Max, Victoria was

one of the sweetest celebrities I have ever interacted with. She made the experience, that

was just minutes long, absolutely incredible.

Shealeigh Meet & Greet - Dec. 17, 2011

If you watch Disney Channel, you must be familiar with the name Shealeigh. She is a

fourteen-year-old singer and songwriter who has been inspiring teens and preteens for 

over a year after making it as a finalist for season 4 of the Next Big Thing competition and 

eventually winning. The song she is best known for is "What Can I Say?" a powerful tune 

that many fans of hers often take to Twitter to express how much they can relate to 

it. Shealeigh and I have become close over the past year and a bit over a week of her 

winning the Disney contest, one of her favorite stores held a meet and greet just for her! 

I rushed over to the location of the event and chatted with her for a short few minutes. Not 

much was said, this being the first time meeting her in person, but I quickly determined 

that she has a very good heart and goes beyond the word "likable." Her name is now 

blowing up all over and the future sensation is on her way to becoming even bigger of a

star.

"Make Your Mark" Taping - Oct. 1, 2011

Young, undiscovered dancers from all across the country with the talent to make it big

have been competing in "Make Your Mark: The Ultimate Dance Off" for two years now.

From practicing routines with famous choreographers to performing with a huge Disney

Channel star to having a video personally recorded by an international celebrity just for

them, anyone who makes it to the finals will definitely be given an experience they never

thought they would get. Season two of this two night dancing event just recently aired and

brought back memories from last year when I was at the first ever taping of the Disney

special. In the process of being at this super fun event, I met two out of three of the

celebrity judges. I chatted with former Disney Channel actress and singer, Selena

Gomez, as well as choreographer of "Shake It Up!" and huge movies such as "Camp

Rock," Rosero McCoy. Also a judge was very famous pop singer, Sean Kingston. The

hosts of the night were actress and singer, Debby Ryan, and actor, singer, dancer, and

rapper, Roshon Fegan. All celebrity guests filled the room with excitement and energy! Not

to mention the dancing. There were so many talented kids of various age groups who

were successful throughout every challenge given and showed so much confidence every

minute of being on the stage. I had a great time attending.

"A.N.T. Farm" Taping - Sept. 30, 2011

"A.N.T. Farm" gives viewers a taste of both comedy and music as well as romance and

occasional drama, making it one of Disney Channel's most popular television programs.

While taping the first season back in 2011, I flew out to Los Angeles in order to attend

one of the show's live tapings. The episode was titled "PatANT Pending" and was based

on characters Olive Doyle and Fletcher Quimby who study students in their school that

have been struggling due to the weight of their heavy backpacks. The two them put their

heads together and come up with an invention as a solution to this problem. Therefore,

they go into business with one another. Not being all that close of friends, they agree that

their relationship won't be affected if to begin working together. As for Chyna Parks, their

extremely close friend, they know they can't risk their friendship with her being torn apart

because of business agruments and choose to keep their idea a secret. Unfortunately

though, Chyna sees the two spending an unusual amount of time together and comes to

the conclusion that they are dating and refused to tell her. Wanting to continue their plan,

Olive and Fletcher go along with Chyna's assumption until the constant couple activity

requests that Chyna makes become too much and they are forced to tell her the truth.

Chyna insists that nothing will happen to their friendship if she is to work with them, and

Olive and Fletcher let her join in on their invention. However, once Chyna and Olive start

having disagreements about which improvement to the current invention idea is better,

they begin competing and often get into fights over the silliest things. Olive then creates a

new invention that helps with making awkward apologies and uses it on Chyna so they will

become friends once more. This was a very good episode and all actors and actresses

did a wonderful job. I was even able to chat with some of the stars including China Anne

McClain, Sierra McCormick, and Jake Short. Though Stefanie Scott made a short

appearance at the beginning of the event, she hurried off within minutes and so I never

met her. As for Carlon Jeffery, he never showed up at all to the taping for a reason that

remains unknown. But I did get to meet up with Aedin Mincks who plays Angus and Zach

Steel who plays Gibson. They both did great, as did the others. Even during rehearsal.

This was the first episode in which the actors were required to do their rehearsing right in

front of the live audience, making the experience better and more extended!