- In some way Zaria Roller is a typical Wisconsin teenager.
- They literally have--
Oops, I wasn't supposed to say that. [laughter]
- She likes to hang out with friends
and she's really into painting her fingernails.
- It's just like a thing I've seen a lot on social media.
- It's called nail art.
- If I'm really stressed out with school work,
a lot of times I'll just paint my nails.
- But that's about where the "typical teen" title ends.
- She was wide-eyed and ready to go the day she was born,
you could tell.
- She's had it since she was little.
When she was four years old,
she got involved in community theater.
- And she's kept at it.
When the Verona Area Community Theater
performed "High School Musical Junior"
Zaria captured the lead role at age 12.
- I'm Gabriella in the show.
Pretty crazy right?
Meeting up again like this.
And we've been practicing for about a month or so now.
[singing]
* I never opened my heart
* To all the possibilities
- I think the first time I saw her as a lead in a play,
it was kind of neat to be in the seats
and have everybody around you saying, [gasps]
you know, and this collective, "Wow."
And it's like, "Yeah, that's my kid."
- Something new.
- Zaria is a straight-A student
attending Verona's High School Exploration Academy.
As a freshman, she is two full years ahead of her classmates.
- You go to kindergarten and they ask you,
"Do you know your ABCs?"
and she says, "I can say backwards."
And they say, "Really? All right!"
And she did.
And she said her ABCs backwards. [laughing]
- I think I put a lot of pressure on myself
to like always maintain those perfect grades
and like always stay ahead of the game.
- I think she wanted to succeed.
It was a natural thing for her.
- Music also seems to come naturally.
[dramatic piano music]
- And after six years of piano lessons,
she's now parlaying the piano and theater into something more.
[clapping hands]
- We do jazz a cappella songs
and we perform at concerts and jazz festivals.
- choir: Whoo-ooo-ooo-ooo!
- Zaria come on down.
- Zaria's voice stands out in a crowd.
- [singing] * I'm walking on sunshine.
* Whoa.
* And don't it feel good.
* Hey.
- I like the pop songs we get to do because
that's something we usually don't get to do in choir.
But, yeah, it's pretty fun.
- Again. Ready. Go.
- [Group singing] * Day of my life.
- "Best Day of My Life" we are preparing to perform.
- * I hear it calling
* Outside my window.
- Zaria was pushed to new heights
using all the skills she'd learned from performing.
- They were looking for a kid, a young kid,
to recite the speech.
[applause]
- It wasn't just any speech.
- I never said a speech like that.
- It was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's
"I Have a Dream" speech.
- Standing in the State Capitol Rotunda,
Zaria delivered a moving rendition.
- "It's a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up
to live out the true meaning of its creed."
- She memorized the speech from start to finish.
- "That all men are created equal."
- I was really nervous.
I don't know if you could tell on camera,
but it was really scary.
- "Former slaves and the sons of former slave owners."
- I was just amazed.
And she doesn't look like she's nervous.
Of course, she told me later, her knees were shaking.
- "That one day, even the state of Mississippi..."
- I was not at the Capitol on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
I was in Quito, Ecuador, working,
and I watched it live on my computer.
- "I have a dream that my..."
- I was blown away actually.
- "In a nation where
they will not be judged by the color of their skin."
- Zaria had harnessed Dr. King's emotion.
- "Free at last.
"Free at last.
Thank God almighty, we are free at last."
[applause]
- I remember one lady came up to me after I said it
and she's like, "You brought me to tears.
"You made me really think back to that.
I felt like I was back when he said that speech."
- Since she was young, Zaria has been in the spotlight.
Giving her parents one proud moment after the next.
- I think this thing at the Capitol
was one of those moments.
She knows that she's succeeding and doing well at things,
but she is very humble about it.
We certainly give her praise and encourage her.
We've never made it seem like a big deal to do big things.
- I can't even imagine where she's gonna go with this.
- To look at her hanging out with friends,
you'd think she's just a typical teenager.
And that's the way Zaria likes it.
- [singing]
* Had a dream so big and loud
* I jumped so high I touched the clouds
* Whoa oh oh oh