Featured Student: Katie Randazzo

Bay High senior Katie Randazzo

Featuring some of our districts' great high school students.

Bay High senior Katie Randazzo has used her time at her school to be an actor, a member of the stage chorus, and a student director of the cast and crew of Bay High’s ambitious musical "Beauty and the Beast." She capped off her high school performances this year playing the wicked stepmother in Bay High’s presentation of "Cinderella" while serving as vice president of the Bay High Thespians. But as much as she enjoys “treading the boards,” Katie has her sights set on actually creating the stories that others perform. She plans to be a screenwriter.

Taking advantage last summer of a rare opportunity, Katie, along with her mom and dad, Jana and Thomas, and siblings Michael and Christina, watched the filming of a scene from "Captain America: The Winter Soldier." This was not just any scene – Katie watched the famous “escalator kiss” between actors Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson, and she even got a shot of it on her phone. 

“I wasn’t really thinking about the process of the camera shots at the time,” said Katie. “But I’ve since started writing my own screenplay, and the screenwriter really does describe everything from the camera shots, to the set and the extras.” She said one thing that particularly surprised her was the small number of “extras” and the small spaces in which the filming took place. “When I watched the movie, I could see that the camera angles made it look like a lot more people and a lot more space.”

Her onstage and backstage efforts have led to her being named Best Thespian this year. Katie is also a member of Bay High’s National Honor Society, Bay High Key Club, and she serves as a mentor to younger students through the school’s H.U.D.D.L.E. club. She writes for the Bay Window, Bay High’s student newspaper, and for the school’s literary magazine. She also indulges in her love of movies with fellow students in Bay High’s Movie Club.

Katie has been a four-year member of the Bay High Marching Band drum line and the school band percussion section. She also enjoys singing, and in addition to being part of Bay High’s A Cappella Choir, she is a member of the highly selective Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus.

Katie will attend the College of Wooster next year to major in comparative literature studies with a minor in physics. “I like science, too,” she says. “And I would really like to write science fiction screenplays. With a foundation in science, I think it will help me write with more accuracy.”