Hinkley’s Genesis Ruano earns Colorado’s NFHS Heart of the Arts Award

Hinkley High School’s Genesis Ruano is not your average high school senior. She does it all for her theater class, not only performing in plays, but also writing them, and even directing them. Her high academic achievement, leadership inside the classroom, as well as her overcoming of adversity has earned her being named Colorado’s recipient of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Heart of the Arts Award for 2023.

According to the NFHS, the Heart of the Arts Award “seeks to recognize those individuals who exemplify the ideals of the positive heart of the arts that represent the core mission of education-based activities.” Ruano does that, and more.

She was nominated by her theatre teacher, Kristen Martin, affectionally known as “K-Mart.” In the nomination, Martin notes “(Genesis) has taken all the underclassmen under her wing in our theatre department, making sure they feel supported and seen. She represents everything that theatre means commitment, kindness, hard work, community, and collaboration.”

Genesis has participated in writing two collaborative plays for performances at Hinkley. Last spring, she wrote a play rooted in Theatre of the Oppressed, and this fall her piece was about the shooting Hinkley experienced Nov. 19, 2021. She is a member of Hinkley’s Thespian troupe, performs in musicals and fall shows AND student directed the fall show (that she wrote) this year. Aurora’s mayor, Mike Coffman, attended the performance. Genesis has also received accolades from Hinkley’s counseling department and admin for her work.

In addition to her academic accomplishments, Genesis coaches a youth club team outside of school. She maintains a 4.0 GPA and will be graduating in the next few weeks. Below is Genesis in her own words after receiving the award in a presentation at Hinkley in front of her classmates.

Q: How long have you been involved in theatre?

Genesis: I’ve been involved in theatre all four years. It was pretty difficult because we came in with no theater teacher at all. So that first semester of my freshman year, it was just a bunch of subs in and out. Then second semester of that year, K-Mart came around and saved the day. I literally only chose this class because I was like, oh, acting, that’s an easy A. I had never acted before, at all. When K-Mart came around, it was a lot of fun. We played a bunch of improv games, and it was just a class with a bunch of seniors, juniors, sophomores, freshmen, it was just a mixed class. So, it was nice, getting to meet people, and also just interact with them by just creating a story.

Then it wasn’t until last year that I was in my first production here at Hinkley. It was the Addams Family musical. I was grandma, having to sing as a grandma, and I really got into character with it. It was a lot of fun. And then just this past school year, I directed a play. I got to collaborate with a lot of my peers. And then I played Maureen in Rent. It was great. It was fantastic.

Q: Do you see a future in acting?

Genesis: I do for sure! I definitely would love to continue to venture into acting, even if it’s just locally here in Colorado, just go into small productions. I still definitely see myself wanting to be involved in the entertainment field, whether it’s on stage or behind the scenes. One time I went to New York, and I remember seeing all the billboards to plays and everything with the theaters outside and how it was just a gravitated to my eye. I really liked the marketing, part of it, so that’s what I really want to go into when I go to college is marketing. Then possibly just venture out to help promote shows and promote actors.

Q: Your nomination talked about the shooting at Hinkley in 2021. Can you talk a little bit more about that?

Genesis: Yeah, I wrote a play about it. I know that it really affected me and a lot of my other classmates. I really struggled after that, my anxiety was through the roof. I love to come here to school. I love meeting my friends. I love meeting my teachers. But after that, it was just constant panic. In my mind was, okay, if something goes wrong, where can I go? Where can I hide? And even when the lockdown happened, I was in my English class and there was a student, she’s paralyzed from the waist down. And I remember thinking, okay if they come in here, that’s who I’m going to protect. When we came back to school, I noticed that nobody wanted to talk about it. For them, it was just normal, like we live in Aurora, we should see this every day. But the fact that it actually happened, nobody wanted to talk about it, everybody was just silent. But for a lot of people this is the place where they feel safe. And the fact that you really can’t feel safe anymore, it’s scary, it’s terrifying. And that’s why I wrote the play, because I wanted to really give an insight into how people were feeling. I just really wanted to bring awareness to it. Because although yes, we see this happening, you know, in the news, or even like, maybe down the street or whatever. The fact that you can’t feel safe in a place where they should I thought deserved attention.

Q: To switch gears. what does it mean to have amazing adults in your life. You mentioned a little bit about K-Mart, but tell us more.

Genesis: Being the youngest of five, all girls, I look up to my sisters a ton. They definitely encouraged me to just keep pushing forward. Especially coming from a family of immigrants. It’s tough. It’s really tough. My parents, they showed me a lot of qualities that I carry with me every day. Like being hardworking, being very optimistic and just looking forward to each day. They definitely just brought a bunch of qualities that I think a lot of people need, and I’m just glad that I get to hold on to them.

With K-Mart, I was so excited that I finally got to have a theater teacher my freshman year. So, I was like, okay, I’ll give this a shot then. And then we went virtual with COVID. I actually liked being virtual, because I got to be more creative, especially in acting. I remember we had a project, and I remember I specifically bought a tripod because I wanted to get the different aspects of it. And I did that because K-Mart encouraged me to do it. She saw something in me. At first I wanted to do tech. But she was like, no, you’re not doing tech. You’re not a techie, you’re an actor. I’m really grateful for her. She definitely saw something in me that I didn’t even see in myself. I didn’t even think that I was capable of going on stage and changing my voice to grandma or strutting my stuff like Maureen. She definitely just encouraged me to keep going. Then over the summer I went to go see one of her plays that she directed locally. The way that she just put it all together, it blew my mind. I was like, I want to do that. I want to try that. And especially when two of the actors spoke to us, telling us how they loved working with K-Mart and she was one of the best directors that they’ve ever worked with, I wanted to be like that and I wanted to give it a shot. So, I think she’s definitely influenced a lot of the reason why I still continue to do theater. And why I want to do it even after high school.

Q: What do you think about this award, being recognized nationally, as our state winner.

Genesis: It’s insane. I was shocked. I remember getting a text message from K-Mart telling me, you won a thing. And then I checked the email and then I’m just like, what? I was shocked. Because, like, I’m just a kid from Hinkley. It was my proudest moment for sure. I’m definitely proud of myself. I’m proud of my peers. Because without them, I wouldn’t be able to be where I am right now. They’re the ones that encouraged me to come to school every day and want to do theater. That’s all that came flowing through me was just gratitude. I’m so grateful to be a T- Bird, to be here at Hinkley, to have K-Mart as my teacher, to be in this department. It was incredible, I’m at a loss for words.

Q: How did folks at home react?

Genesis: It took me a while to tell them because I was shocked. Like, for the whole state of Colorado, they could have chosen anybody, but they chose me. When I told them, they were so proud. The look that I saw on my mom’s face, she was so happy. And that’s what I’ve always wanted was just to make my mom proud. She’s done so much for me and my sisters. She’s always coming to every show. She’s always willing to help the theatre department, whether that’s through her catering business, or just coming out and inviting her friends to shows. It was great seeing my mom’s face light up when I told her and my sisters. They always told me that I would do great things, and the fact that I was able to show them that, it was really awesome.