Djuna Elkan

If one doubts that it’s possible for a student to be fully committed to school, sports, and theater, all at once, they need only to look to Djuna Elkan.

First of all, Djuna is on crew, which anyone at BHS can tell you is a huge time commitment — however, she managed to get three consecutive varsity letters in the sport while simultaneously light designing and stage managing three consecutive dance shows at Berkeley High.

And, impressively, none of this came at the expense of her schoolwork. This year, she says, “I decided not only to continue to do crew, but I also joined the [Berkeley Community Theater] Tech program and have also kept my grades up.” In addition to all of that, she’s also done figure skating and costume design.

Jordan Winer, director of the theatre programs at BHS, says “She may be the first person in BHS history to be involved in crew and actually be able to do theatre as well, and live to tell the tale.”

Dance teacher Linda Carr also sings Djuna’s praises. “Djuna ran the calmest tech crew I’ve ever worked with on the dance shows this spring,” she says. She credits this positive experience to Djuna’s winning personality.

Says Carr, she was “cool-headed, smart, fun and organized. She was a pleasure to work with — certainly for me, but also for the dancers and for her crew. This was the nicest backstage experience in a decade.”

Djuna is a senior in Academic Choice, and has only positive feelings towards the program. She explains that it was the perfect choice for her, and gave her the solid academic groundwork to figure out what she wanted to do beyond high school.

“They let me choose programs that really inspired me to choose what I want to do with the rest of my life,” she says.
Next year, she will attend Humboldt State University, where she plans to study Forensic Anthropology, which she hopes to make a career.

Beyond the academic front, Djuna also has extracurricular plans for the future. “I’m considering dancing in college or maybe joining the lacrosse team or something different and interesting.”

About BHS overall, Djuna remarked “Berkeley High has been great to me over the years. I would have to say that this has been the best educational experience I’ve ever had.”

Photos:

• Djuna Elkan