Music Scholarship Opens Artistic Doors for Pacific Student

A music scholarship at Pacific opened artistic doors for Leiana Petlewski ’21 and helped ignite their creative passion. Leiana plays the cello in the symphonic orchestra and has been a part of the dance ensemble since freshman year. Now a junior, Petlewski is majoring in applied theatre and dance.

One of the benefits of being a student at Pacific, they say, is being able to experiment with so many disciplines, “I can walk in the door of the dance studio and say, ‘Here I am, I’m working on this now,’ and I can walk next door and go on stage, be in that moment, then I can go to the music building and practice and be in that moment, and really live and feel each one as I go to it.”

All those artistic choices helped prepare Petlewski for the lead role in Pacific’s theatre production of Orlando, which follows the adventures of a nobleman as he spans cities, centuries, and eventually gender presentation.

“Doing all these things, at the same time, is such a special opportunity,” Petlewski says.