As she brushed the last stroke on her makeup design, little did freshman Karthika Menon know that this design would allow her to achieve her dreams of becoming a state qualifier.

On March 20, Karthika had found out that she had qualified for state for Theatrical Hair and Makeup Design. She is the only person from campus who has qualified for any categories of theater and will be participating in the state competition from Saturday to Tuesday at the Austin ISD Performing Arts Center.

“When my tech director told me, I was absolutely speechless,” Karthika said. “I was filled with happiness because I was the only person from Liberty advancing, one of 6 in the district overall, and the only person in it advancing for Hair & Makeup specifically, and I was genuinely almost hyperventilating at that point.”

Karthika had been working hard to place in state, spending at least two hours everyday to achieve the perfection she needed for the competition. 

“I’ve spent the past month preparing and updating my designs, and I’ve been redoing the looks on my models,” Karthika said. “With these application sessions, they could take anywhere from an hour to two and a half on the most complex looks, such as my grayscale designs.”

Her hard work and the accomplishments she had achieved were further supported by her mom, Sreepriya Menon. 

“I am very proud of her and her accomplishments,” Sreepriya said. “She has done an immense amount of work for it as she worked day and night to get it finished and I think it will definitely pay off at the state competition.”

Going to a state competition in Austin means making new friends, learning about new artworks but Menon is most excited for something new. 

“Although I’m very excited to get to know more people, I am most excited to explain my design further to the judges with an oral presentation on Saturday for all the hard work I have put into it,” Menon said. 

Cecily Maucieri, the technical theater director, says that she is proud of Karthika’s achievement and has no doubt that she will do well at state. 

“I am extremely proud of Karthika,” Maucieri said. “Her going to state after her first attempt as an underclassman is a huge accomplishment. If she is capable of doing this at 14, I can’t wait to see the work she will produce as an upperclassman. She 100% deserves this and has worked very hard to get here.” 

Qualifying for state had taught her valuable lessons and skills, ones that she would keep for a long time in the future. 

“One valuable lesson I have learned is that good work takes time,” Karthika said. “With my first few makeup looks, they didn’t turn out exactly as I wanted due to the time crunch, but as I became more experienced and understood exactly what I needed to achieve, I started working faster and more diligently, and I believe this will help me in the future.”