Going to College with Jeri Stein

Aidan Lindsay

This article is not written by Jeri. Sorry to all who believed it would be, based on the title — but Jeri graduated last June, and if you didn’t catch that by October, then, well … I guess you weren’t a true Jeri fan. However, with the advent of technologies like Zoom (what a relic!), I have transported her back to Evolution. The excerpts presented are Jeri’s words verbatim, taken from my interview with her on September 11th — focusing on her experience of going off to college.

“Hi, I’m Jeri Rose Stein, I was in the class of 2026, I was in Acting, and now I’m at Emerson College for Comedy Writing. 

Emerson is just OCSA part two. Do you know I have to take the stairs? I get deja vu. My opinion on Emerson is that it’s actually the best. I’ve been having the greatest time here. If you like the arts — if you truly love art — then this is where you need to come. You think at OCSA that people are into art, but as you go up in the years, people start going ‘Oh, I want to go into Finance — I want to be an accountant’ … something like that. But when you’re here, everyone is engaged. Everybody wants to try out for things. Everybody wants to write with you. I’m filming a sketch with this guy tomorrow. It’s my second week here, and I’m already doing stuff like that. Now it’s like, real — if you’re here for film, you want to be a director. That’s the thing here — OCSA prepares you perfectly for this school. It’s very similar to OCSA; it’s smaller and so dedicated to the arts — it’s just perfect.

When I came to OCSA, I didn’t know what I wanted to be. Let me let you in on a little secret — I wasn’t always funny. I was kinda funny. But when I first started to get into acting and received comedic roles, I realized ‘I’m good at this.’ When I first joined Unleashed Freshman year, I remember writing sketch, and it just came so naturally. I would write, and I just felt like I knew what to do. I remember Mr. Wood came up to me and said ‘Jeri, I’m so excited you’re a freshman! When I was reading [your sketches], I thought you were a senior.’ I was like, ‘Well, you’re gonna have three more years of me.’ Being in my conservatory made me realize that this is the place for me. Why not do it in such a specialized field? Writing Deep Thoughts with Jeri Stein actually changed my life, in a way. It made me realize that I love writing about life. Evolution was such a great way to get into that field, too. OCSA gives you such a great outlet to let out everything creatively.

When people say ‘Jeri Stein’ in the hallway, I want them to remember me as somebody who was engaged in my art throughout all of high school. [When I told people] I’m going to school for comedy, everybody went ‘yeah, that makes sense.’ I want to be exactly who I think myself to be. I definitely made some waves at OCSA, stuff like OCSA Unleashed — is that still happening? Fly high. Anyways, I want people to know that I was driven, but also funny. My most important key qualities.

Dream big. That’s my biggest advice for everyone at OCSA; the dream is real. Everything in life is temporary. Just know things will pass, like all things do.”