Grace Stensland is a Film & Media Studies major at the University of Rochester, with minors in Audio and Music Engineering and Music. Along with being the Her Campus at Rochester Twitter manager and a Her Campus Contributor, she’s a member of the Undergraduate Film Council and works as a Peer Career Advisor at the Greene Center. Grace is very passionate about social justice, film and media, and helping others, but we wanted to find out her answers to our biggest questions for our Meet the Team week.
Her Campus: What are you most excited to learn about in your upcoming or current classes?
Grace Stensland: I’m very excited to learn about live sound, sound recording, how to mic instruments, and producing music. I’m excited to start adding my own flavor and diving into personal projects now that I have the means and knowledge to do so.
HC: What is the first place you want to travel to after COVID?
GS: I would probably want to go to LA, there’s just something about the vibrant arts and culture there. I also absolutely hate the cold and snow with a passion, so I don’t want to go anywhere cold. Someplace warm, that I can explore and that has a view.
HC: What fruit do you think you would be?
GS: I think I would be a pomegranate, because I think I’m very bright, colorful, and I exude energy on the outside, but on the inside I have so many intricate details about myself. It’s so varied that I have a lot more going on inside my brain than most people might know me for or see.
HC: If you could have dinner with any person, past or present, who would it be?
GS: Lin Manuel-Miranda, hands down. I admire how he’s used his energy for the arts to shed light on and donate to causes, and use his passions and art for good. I would love to sit down with him and figure out what worked, why he does what he does, and how I can do that in my own life.
HC: What superpower would you want to have?
GS: Being able to sit down and play any instrument or sing anything perfectly. Or, a more generic superpower would be heat vision because I’m constantly cold and it would let me melt all of the snow, and therefore I would never be cold. But only if it’s sustainable and doesn’t cause global warming to worsen. Also I could make brownies really really fast.
HC: Which woman do you aspire to be like?
GS: Probably Ava DuVernay, because she got into filmmaking later in life and has been able to make her own path. She makes films and produces beautiful works of art with storytelling that tells of people whose stories don’t always get heard, and I admire her for that so much. She just established an Array Crew, which is for ensuring that the studio system no longer only sees and hires the people who are white or male. It’s advocating for those who have the skills and talents, but aren’t necessarily seen by Hollywood already. She’s using the power and voice that she has to fight for the people who are discriminated against.
HC: What would be the theme song of your life?
GS: Times are Hard for Dreamers, from Amélie, by Phillipa Soo. It’s such a power bop. It’s energetic, and I love the lyrics, “It isn’t where I am, it’s only where I go from here that matters now, and I am not afraid as everything I’ll ever need appears, this is how my world gets made,” I feel like it’s something that everyone needs to hear.
HC: Do you agree with the cube-rule of food?
GS: I don’t agree with all of it. For example, I don’t think that “taco” should be taco, I think it should be hot dog. I think a taco’s a hot dog, but I don’t think a hot dog’s a taco.
HC: What’s your favorite Barbie movie?
GS: Barbie: Princess and the Pauper.
HC: If you could change one thing about your college experience (not counting COVID) what would it be?
GS: When I was in high school, I was the music kid, and that’s all I ever was. My first semester, I wanted to figure out if music was something I still enjoyed, so I took a semester off of it. Now, I’m double minoring in Music and Audio and Music Engineering, and I wish I took a music class during that semester. I think I would have benefitted from it because I knew I loved it, instead of listening to other people telling me what I loved.
HC: If you weren’t a film major, what major do you think you would be?
GS: Before I decided on studying film, I was also considering Physics and Audio and Music Engineering, so I think one of those two.
HC: If you had as much money as Jeff Bezos, what would you do with it?
GS: Give it away, and pay employees much higher than a living wage because I could afford to do that.
HC: Were you a Disney or Nickelodeon kid?
GS: I was both. It depended on what was on TV, like I loved the Disney original movies, but for TV shows I liked iCarly and Victorious. Nick had some quality funny moments with some bizarreness to it, and Disney didn’t have that.
HC: What’s your go-to comfort meal?
GS: First, chicken and biscuits. The second one that popped in my head is tortellini alfredo with chicken and broccoli, and lots of garlic bread. Third is chicken riggies, and if you don’t know what they are, you’re not from Syracuse.
HC: What would your life look like while doing your dream job?
GS: I just wanna be happy, loving whatever I do, and loving the process of doing it, as opposed to only loving the product. No matter where I end up, I want to enjoy it.
HC: What are you most excited to write about for Her Campus?
GS: I’m excited to be writing about representation in the media and entertainment, doing possible film reviews, and continuing to write for the career section because I work for the Greene Center.
You can hear more from Grace through her contributions to the Her Campus at Rochester page. You can also find her on Twitter (@GraceStensland), Instagram (@grace_stensland), Facebook, and LinkedIn.