The Colorful Life of a Creative: Christina Poliandro
In an aesthetically lit pink room, with theater playbills like wallpaper and a homey, chubby cat taking a nap on a nearby chair, Christina Poliandro prepares to record her radio show, “It's Only Intermission” running over her plan in her head, and experiencing butterflies of excitement in her gut. After a few deep breaths and a confident smile, she presses the record button and begins talking into the microphone...
Christina Poliandro prides herself in being an energetic, risk-taking creative. She has painted her life in color ever since she could remember and has always surrounded herself with art. She is currently a senior communications major at William Paterson as a Communications major and graduated from Eastern Christian High School 2017.
As she went to Eastern Christian for most of her life, she looks back on her high school days in ECHS, and she opens up about how her education has shaped her, “High school is the time to experiment in different things you may enjoy! I was never afraid at EC to try new things. I went to public school when I was in kindergarten, so I don’t remember it all that well, but I do know that public schoolers are more prone to be scared to try new things for fear of being made fun of… but at EC I was never scared. EC really gave me a safe space to grow,” she reflects.
“I am very very friend oriented, and two of my very best friends I met at EC. I graduated in 2017 and to this day I still have these close relationships. I still talk to my high school friends very often. Besides God, they are probably some of my closest relationships.”
When asked about her favorite memories from EC she was quick to respond, “Some of the best memories in high school involved theater. I was in the shows I could be in at EC and I also did CYT for my entire high school career. SOAR was also so much fun, and really gave me a chance to try new things and explore.”
Christina’s current accomplishments include being the president of Alpha Psi Omega (a theater honors society) at William Paterson, being off-campus coordinator for Pioneer Players (an improv group) and running her own Broadway show on Brave New Radio. She also works regularly at the Shea Center of Performing Arts.
“Communications is the major for people who have always had entertainment dreams, but also want to make reliable money with it,” said Christina, “I’m not entirely sure what I want to do after college, but I have experience in marketing and public relations. I’ve started applying to places like Broadway Records, for example, and I actually have my own radio show! I play a bunch of Broadway songs and then talk about it haha, it's really fun. People don’t really listen to radio anymore unless it's online, so it's cool to combine communications, radio and musical theater in a way that people can relate to and understand.”
Upon being asked how EC might have helped her reach where she is now, she answered, “When I was in high school I actually thought I was going to be a musical theater major because I love theater so much… Then I had a conversation with one of my favorite teachers at EC, [Mrs. Leah Genuario] and she asked if I had considered communications before. I said no, but later had to interview a professional in public relations, and reached out to Ms. G, asking if she knew anyone to interview. So long story short, I ended up interviewing a professional at Carnegie Hall! It was super amazing.”
When asked about Christina’s personal walk with the Lord and how it might have corresponded with Eastern Christian, she replied, “EC also played a big part in my faith, and that shaped my political views as well. I’ve been a Christian as long as I can remember, and I’ve always been very founded in my faith. I always knew that Jesus is my Lord and Savior and He died and rose again for me…”
“EC is a very safe space. You won’t always have that kind of an atmosphere where everyone believes in Jesus… I am a very different person because I graduated from EC.”
