As a child, Ms. Akulenko was outgoing and sociable. She loved making new friends, striking up conversations with adults and performing in front of an audience. Her family immigrated to Canada from Russia when she was twelve. This change affected Ms. Akulenko. The frustration brought on by the language barrier isolated her from her peers and convinced her she was an introvert. This lack of confidence stopped Ms. Akulenko from pursuing performance in high school. Subsequently it encouraged her to develop strong connections with people, specifically with children. Since childhood, Ms. Akulenko was surrounded by strong role models and wanted to be like them. This passion led her to volunteer at kids day camps, as a city library reading buddy, as a Sunday school teacher and more.

Ms. Akulenko was the first in her family to attend university. But her carefully thought out plan of becoming an art teacher was confronted with a single acting class. As she puts it herself “the theatre department kidnapped me and didn’t post the bail”. Needless to say, Ms. Akulenko found her place among dramatic and jovial thespians and realized she was no introvert. Her passion for children, her love for art and her desire for connection were met in theatre. As she pursued theatre and acting she began to understand herself and others more than she had before. Theatre gives us a unique opportunity to see face to face what we otherwise would want to avoid.

Ms. Akulenko has over five years of teaching experience. As a BASA teacher, Ms. Akulenko looks forward to making strong connections. She is excited to share her knowledge and help students to know themselves and see others, through performance, writing and dialogue, and more.