Local student accepted into a top high school

Tinsley Collins, 14, a recent 8th grade graduate, received news recently that she was accepted into Carnegie Vanguard High School of Houston, Texas, ranked #42 in National Rankings. After traveling to Portland, Oregon, in April, to tour Northwest Academy where Tinsley also received an acceptance and a healthy scholarship allotment for her freshman year tuition, Tinsley and her mother Rae Collins, 38, were ecstatic to receive this news. Tinsley was also accepted into Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico.

Tinsley has been in Wimberley since the fifth grade, where she served as Student Council President, elected by her peers just eight weeks after moving here and continuing her primary education at Jacob’s Well. Her mother, an educator herself, has been fighting the stigma related to single parenthood since Tinsley was still in her belly. The two, known for DRAEDESiGNS here locally, have recently just produced their environmental advocating screendance sequel, “Deviation. Dip.,” to their initial dance on film feature titled “Relation. Ship.” - a peaceful protest made prior to the pipeline that was ultimately laid throughout the Hill Country while the COVID pandemic ensued.

Tinsley was awarded last year the second place title of “Wimberley’s Best Actress” after studying with Bridget Farias Gates. Performing while both singing and dancing atop a hoverboard, Tinsley was the only child in an all-adult cast for “The Little Mermaid” production in 2018, opening just one month after Tinsley and her mother experienced a tragic loss in losing their Navy Veteran friend, Joseph Grigar, to a motorcycle accident.

Overcoming obstacles is nothing new for this young Texan. When everyone was going back to school amid the pandemic, Tinsley decided it was best for her to stay home; a notion that was considered “against the grain” for many, especially locally. Tinsley and Rae both went to school online for the Fall of 2020, with Tinsley beginning the 8th grade and her mother pursuing her low-residency Master’s in Dance Education at Texas Woman’s University.

“I’m excited to see what I will become, to know all the great things I will do and all that I will impact and [hope to] inspire,” Tinsley said. “I’ve learned while being home to follow my gut and to give myself love and time.”

“My daughter has been the greatest source of inspiration for me since I found out she was on her way into this world, and since real izing she had chosen me as her vessel,” Rae followed. “Learning together at home here in Wimberley this last year has been the light we needed to see us through the dark that COVID brought us all. We are both much obliged for all the Heavenly lessons learned here in the last few years, especially the hard ones.”

Tinsley’s artwork will be displayed beginning July 1 at Blanco Brew, while this duo continues dancing through life, both with and for our sacred waters. Their sequel can be found currently on Rae’s YouTube channel, and they plan to submit it for more screendance festivals, especially those whose aims are anti bullying and environmental activism.