Pace Paw Print

Media Credit: Samuella Becker Pace students, Rena Anakwe isn't your average student, find out why

Students here at Pace University all seem like such normal pupils. We have come to realize that the students on this campus actually have a lot going on for them. What we don't know is what the students in the City campus have going for them. That's where Rena Anakwe comes into play.

Anakwe, "Born in Canada to Nigerian born Parents, Drs. Onyeama & Uzo Anakwe , Rena and her parents moved to the US a year later. Her parents have always enforced the need for an education to her and her younger brother and sister. Rena has always had a love for acting and expressing herself artistically (Acting, Writing, Singing) but had to get an education in an area that could "pay for her bills". Graduating from New York University's, Leonard N. Stern School of Business with a Major in Marketing and a Co-Major in International Business, Rena went into the Business world.

After a few months she realized that she needed to actively pursue her vocational passion of Acting, and applied to The Actors Studio. After an audition (in which she bribed her brother to be her scene partner) and an improv directed by Elizabeth Kemp, she was given admission to this illustrious program," stated on Anakwe's biography.

Anakwe's mother is actually a Pace University professor in our campus. Uzoamaka P. Anakwe, who is an Assosciate Professor of Management in the Lubin School of Business. She joined our campus in 1994.

Anakwe is a student at Pace Universities city campus, enrolled in the Actors Studio Drama School MFA Program. For many of you that don't read your Pace E-Bulletin e-mail, Actors Studio, the show, is actually filmed in the city campus. The Co-Presidents are three actors you may or may not know, but they are in big films and that says a lot; Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream), Harvey Keitel(Reservoir Dogs), and Al Pacino (Godfather). As Pace Students you can actually get tickets to the shows.

Being an acting student is a lot of work, but Anakwe finds time to fit in her other hobby of Boxing. She is a finalist in the Amateur Golden Gloves, a very competitive NY State Championship that is being held at Madison Square Garden on Friday, April 18. For more information on that and to support a fellow Pace student, visit, www.thegarden.com. The Golden Gloves will be her debut as an amateur boxer and her first time in the Tournament. She is known as 'The Matrix.' For her biography, visit www.boxingsocialnetwork.com.

The reason that Anakwe actually started boxing was because of a simple friend request on MySpace, and an ex boyfriend who didn't believe she could do it. Her ex-boyfriend, who at the time influenced her without realizing it, stated "You'll never do that. You can't box, are you kidding me? Girls don't box." This is what influenced the Pace student to start boxing. That and fitness.

"Rena is a proud member of the only all women's boxing team - Team FreeForm - www.teamfreeform.com -- and has only been boxing for three years. But clearly has amazing talent - and yes, she did see Million Dollar Baby with Hillary Swank. But that is not what inspired her to box - fitness and getting in great shape did," said Samuella Becker from Public Information at Pace University.

What Anakwe loves about boxing is, "It is an ever-evolving art form. No matter how much you learn, there is always something else that can make you better; you are always learning. Boxing is very challenging, takes a lot of discipline, and it keeps me entertained; that's what I love the most." She stated on the website, boxingsocialnetwork.com

Anakwe wants to use her acting for the use of teaching people about HIV/AIDS. She believes that it is better to teach the harm of this through theatre and film because it hit's the viewer unlike in a pamphlet.

"In the ring, I want to have fun, fight my best, and represent Team Freeform to the highest caliber. I'm not going to lie, I want those Golden Gloves around my neck. Out of the ring, I want to teach others about HIV/AIDS awareness through Film/Visual Arts/Performing Arts. I would like to graduate from my Master's Program at the Actors Studio and use all that I have learned to achieve this. I am working on a book, that I hope will be adapted to a screen play, to start the first step for this. I am also aspiring to be one of the Greatest Actresses/Writers in History."

Hopefully we as Pace students can help one of our fellow Pace students in helping her achieve her goals. In the mean time, if you are a Management major, take a class with Professor Anakwe and maybe you can get some brownie points for being a fan of her daughter.

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