How MPSA, Theatre, Dance & English Shaped Jamie Shore

By: Daniel McArdle-Jaimes

Throughout high school, I recall Jamie Shore being tremendously focused, driven and passionate about writing, dance, theater and her education at a very young age. She was steady, naturally talented and I felt this unbending pressure to perform well because I didn’t want to be the weak link next to her. If I were to describe the dynamics of our relationship, Jamie and I would be co-stars. I guess I would be the teenage Will to her young Grace. In case you didn’t catch that, I’m using a Will & Grace pop culture analogy for reference. It’s completely appropriate.

We were a sarcastic and comedic pairing that Mr. Doyle recognized early on. In fact, he often paired us up together to do scene work in class, plays or in speech & debate tournaments. I remember him investing in the two of us as freshmen and taking us all the way to a state championship for speech & debate tournament as she and I played an old, cranky and cantankerous married couple…

Flash forward to present day, Jamie is now a 15-year Los Angeles resident with 10+ years of entertainment/television experience. After being together for nearly five years, she and her fiancé, Todd Lucia, live together in a Santa Monica complex that feels a little bit like Melrose Place. While she’s used to L.A. living, for the rest of us, it feels like a well-scripted fairytale.

Here are some highlights of our interview in her words:  

1)     What have you been up to the last 15 years?

After graduating from Mid-Pacific, I went to the University of Southern California’s (USC) School of Cinematic Arts after deciding that a business degree was just not what I needed to make me happy. Shortly after college, I worked for a television network, Ovation, which had a concentration on arts programming. It was a natural fit for me, given my extensive Mid-Pacific School of the Arts (MPSA) background. After some time moving up in the ranks there, I landed a job at The CW and now work as a manager of affiliate marketing.

2)     Your job sounds so cool, but what is affiliate marketing?

She thankfully started her response with an example.

A national broadcast network like Fox comes to your Honolulu home thanks to the local KHON (affiliate) station. There are many markets across the U.S.—New York City is #1, Los Angeles is #2 and Honolulu is #66. Each region has a different affiliate station and agreement with a national broadcasting network.

My job allows me to work with affiliates that are our partners. While The CW network headquarters in Los Angeles oversees the national marketing efforts to promote our shows, my job is to oversee the marketing partnerships between the Network and over 45 local affiliated television networks across the country. The best part of my job is getting to talk about TV all day. Most Americans call it “water cooler” talk, so I basically have a fun job. ;)

3)     Living and working in L.A., you must see a lot of celebrities. This is something that we can imagine. Are there any special celebrity sightings that come to mind? 

I am a fan of entertainers like anybody else, and I probably see more celebrities than most. However, when I am at work, I make it a point to conduct myself in a professional manner. Most of my interactions with celebrities are very brief and casual—it’s a “hi” or “goodbye” type of interaction, and some work-related banter.

One day I walked by Patrick Wilson (Fargo, Insidious, and Watchmen). Inside I was dying as we exchanged smiles, but I kept telling myself to keep calm. I guess I also run into that hot actor from Jane The Virgin (Justin Baldoni, also in Heroes, Charmed, The Bold & The Beautiful, and The Young & The Restless) every now and then, but again I try to keep it to myself.

Other sightings you should ask her about include: Chris Ma

rtin, Britney Spears, Kerry Washington, Cuba Gooding Jr., Rachel Bilson, and Ian Somerhalder to name a few.

4)     What does alumni relations mean to you? Is it important or not?

I think it’s important to check in with your roots. My roots were created at Mid-Pacific, and we spent many years there—especially those that started in middle school. I think it’s important to keep those friendship and acquaintances close, because we went through a shared experience together and have since evolved.

I think for current and future students, it is important to keep in contact with alumni to know what they are capable of. I recall reading the alumni notes when it was called The Owl Line. It helped me realize that if I can continue to dream, it would help me determine what to do later in life.

Furthermore, I think it is important to underscore how well the teachers prepared me. I am grateful to them, and have befriended them on Facebook, including Mrs. Reed, Mr. Doyle and Ms. Jay…but I need to reconnect with Ms. Zeller.

5)     Speaking of teachers, who was your favorite teacher in high school?

Mrs. Zeller. She was not only my homeroom teacher, but also my International Baccalaureate (IB) English teacher for two years. She challenged my thinking and pushed me to write more. I remember doing a lot of writing in that class, and it proved useful for me, particularly in college. These days, I write in my spare time and have aspirations of becoming a better writer. It’s a hobby of mine that I haven’t let go of.

Mrs. Reed inspired me in the value of learning to read stories. In my career, I’m surround by television and movie stories, and she had help me look at the story and be able to understand what makes it great. In addition, she’s always my friend in sarcasm. I learned the ways of sarcasm with the help of Mrs. Reed.

Ms. Jay was a constant source of support during my MPSA journey. Dance didn’t come naturally for me, and I knew it was something that required practice. I remember Ms. Jay being very encouraging. For me, dance required an investment of time and work that led to my improvement. I don’t dance anymore, but I use the same philosophy in my professional life and personal hobbies—constantly practicing and improving! J 

6)     Which classmate did you admire most?

Erin Fuller. She is so intelligent, and also found the time to let loose and have fun. I admired her because I didn’t know how she was able to get everything done. She had outstanding grades, and was also involved in so many extracurricular activities and sports. Today, she’s not only a doctor, but now has a family and is an amazing mom.

7)     What Is Your Favorite High School Memory?

There was something about being backstage that was exciting. For whatever reason, it encouraged enthralling banter. We would just love to irritate each other, and admittedly, we weren’t the best behaved children…we would always find creative ways of entertaining ourselves.

There were so many people a part of those memories, including Gen Fujitani, Adam Szalonti, Max Sato, Stuart Morishige and Danny Pereira, to name a few—it also included other non-2001 classmates including Jessica Hayworth, class of 2002 and Mariko (Neubauer) Jackson, class of 2000.

8)     Why was MPSA important in your development?

For me, the most important element of MPSA was the reading of plays in dramatic literature class. It was this class that gave me an appreciation of stories. I recognized early on the influence stories had, including the impact it had on our society, how it could slowly shape reality and how it could interpret what was going on in the world.

In addition, we did a lot of improvisation with Mr. Doyle. I recall Tina Fey’s memoir reflection—In all of the jobs she had, the greatest lesson she learned was to always say yes and figure out how to do it later. Improvisation was always agreeing to something silly and playing off of it in Mr. Doyle’s class. In my career, I learned to always say yes. Of course I was scared after agreeing to it, but I figured it out as I went.

9)     Which classmate would you like to see at the reunion?

Danny Pereira! We had so much fun in high school, and I’ve lost touch with him. I remember when we would go off campus in his convertible to grab dinner before rehearsals. He always made me laugh. I’d love to know what he’s up to. He is just so fun, and I’m sure he still is a lot of fun!