Last year, Weston Smith was just a high school senior looking for the right university to continue his theater studies. This year, Smith is a freshman at St. Edward’s University — the school he said he automatically knew was for him, the minute he stepped on campus.

“The environment felt so welcoming,” Smith said. “And now that I’m here, I’m comfortable. I don’t feel out of place.”

With his bubbly personality, it’s no surprise that Smith is a theater major. The San Antonio native’s interest in acting started off as a hobby, but as he went on to high school, theater turned into something serious.

In his four years in high school, he received three Honorable All-Star Cast awards and was elected president of the International Thespian Society his senior year.

Although Smith found success in his high school’s theater program, he remembers having theater classes with students that didn’t take the program as seriously as he did.

“There are always those kids that don’t really take theater seriously,” Smith said. “They were just distractions to those who actually cared.”

That’s one thing that the actor found is different from his high school’s theater program now that he attends St. Edward’s.

“I like how serious everyone is,” he said. “Everyone in this program wants to pursue theatre.”

Within seven weeks at St. Edward’s, Smith has already found his place in the program. He recently joined Alpha Psi Omega (APO). The St. Edward’s chapter of the international theater fraternity focuses on community services. Smith says the best part of the APO process was rush week.

“Rush week was so much fun,” Smith said. “It consisted of theater-related activities, and it was just so cool getting to be around all of the other theatre kids.”

Along with APO, he also enjoys how close he is with his theatre classmates.

Right now, Smith and his classmates are working on improv, which allows students to interact with different combinations of people while finding their comfort in pairs.

“Improv is really helping with our connection as a class,” Smith said. “The freshman barrier is being broken.”

When asked about his future, Smith said that he plans to partake in the Actor’s Equity Association at St. Edward’s, which allows students to receive their acting license. Smith hopes that the license will benefit his acting career.

If Smith were to become an actor, he would prefer to do live-stage acting, rather than film.

“I’ve only done film once,” Smith said. “And I didn’t enjoy it much.”

What he enjoys about live-stage acting is interacting with a live audience.

“There’s a different tone to every show,” Smith said. “You perform the same show every night, but there’s always a different audience. It’s fresh.”

“You just can’t find that type of environment in film,” he said.

Along with acting, Smith would also like to own his own theater.

“I hope to own my own theater, maybe even my own theater company,” Smith said. “I would like to put on shows for the community.”

Another idea he has for his future is the idea of becoming a high school theater director.

“I just love the education my high school teacher taught me,” he said. “I want to be able to inspire other students.”