Epic journey soon to begin a new chapter
Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter
It was a long journey for Lennette Randall to finally make it to the Rosebud School of the Arts, one that tested her faith and her relationships.
Randall was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone. When she was a teen she completed high school in the U.S. and moved to the United Kingdom to live with her father and attend college and university.
After finishing university Randall had been trying to figure out what was next, and decided she wanted to see what the real world of acting was like. She had had the opportunity to co-lead in Christian Union Theatre at university, and wanted to know what the real pinch of acting was like.
“I knew I wanted to go to a faith-based because it’s a mad world and having that as a foundation can help stabilize you I think. So I had looked around England and I found a really good school in Birmingham. I went to visit them and I was quite certain I was going to go there until one day I was sitting on the stairs just thinking about it and I just felt like, okay maybe this isn’t it. Literally something was just like, why don’t you go check Christian performing arts schools in Canada online,”
That’s exactly what she did and through her search she came across Rosebud School of the Arts. She said when she clicked on the website there was nothing to further inform her because the website was under construction at the time, which was in 2006.
Randall continued browsing, figuring the site wasn’t serious, but just before she closed her browser window she decided to go back and send them an email to say she wanted to know more about what the school was all about.
A few weeks later she received information in the mail from Rosebud, and she said when she opened the envelope and pulled out the brochure her heart literally went thud. Randall sent the school an email saying she thinks God wanted her to attend the school, and she was told she still had an application process to go through.
“So during this time I was going through my dissertation and I was like, it’s going to be a miracle to get through this application process,” said Randall.
“I found time to go through the application and re-write my personal statement and all of that, and I sent in my application.”
Next up she had a phone interview with the school, and instead of them trying to make sure she would fit in the school, she felt they wanted to make sure the school would fit her. It wasn’t long after that when she got the acceptance letter.
She had graduated from university in July and had to be in Rosebud in September and was trying to figure out how she would get the money to leave. Randall also found out her family wasn’t so happy with the idea of her going to a place she knew nothing about, and she herself was questioning her decision to move somewhere where the weather can drop to -30.
“Something wasn’t letting me let it go, and so for two years I kind of fought with it. For the first few months, I fought with trying to come because I knew that it wasn’t going to come easy, because things like that, that sort of shift your destiny don’t come easy,” said Randall.
She was ready to fight for it, but found many aspects of her life were being affected including her relationships, and her faith relationship.
In 2006 she went to the High Commission for her visa. Though she didn’t have the £5,000 or her parents offering to support her if something went wrong, the man who helped her held onto her passport and all of her documents and told her to fax him when she had more evidence of financial help, and they would release it as soon as possible.
Eventually she decided not to go to Rosebud because a lot of things were so unsettled.
She spent the next few years working and trying to figure out what to do with her life. She thought about going to performing arts school in London, but she wasn’t willing to settle for anything there. She said over time Rosebud kept in touch, to see how she was doing and how her decision was coming.
In 2008 she was at the point where she wanted something more stable for at least a few years, and that is when the thought of attending Rosebud re-entered her mind. She tried to banish the thoughts, but realized it was up to her to finally make a decision, and says re-finding her faith is what helped strengthen her will.
“Considering there had been so many oppositions before and things hadn’t worked out you do get kind of scared about the kind of decisions you make, and how much more hits and knocks you can take in life,” said Randall.
After a while she decided to put in another application, but this time she didn’t tell anyone but the school and her three references. Randall was hoping the school would be the one to close the door on her, forcing her to give up the desire to attend the school.
When she hadn’t heard anything by August she sent an email to find out if her application had been successful. After another hour-long interview Randall was asked, if she was offered a spot in the classes could she make it?
“I was just like, yes, even though I knew I was still in the same boat as two years before. They were like, do you understand that means you have three weeks to get here, and I was like yes,” said Randall.
She had a friend who had originally offered to lend her the money for the first semester when she first applied a few years previous, but after her aunt said she shouldn’t borrow the money she didn’t respond.
This time she emailed the friend to see if the offer was still available, and it was. There were issues with a misplaced student package, processing her student visa, which at first Randall thought would prevent her from being able to attend, therefore effectively closing the door on the dream.
Her parents sent a letter saying they will support her, but by this point Randall thought it was too late. She sent her application for a visa on September 3, which was when she was supposed to start school in Rosebud. She was told it would take six to eight weeks, but on Sept. 14 there was a letter at her parents from the High Commission saying she was free to travel to Canada.