Lauren Hovet is a 21-year-old deaf studies major at CSUN. She is the youngest of three children coming from Van Nuys and will also be the first one from her family to graduate from college. Currently a senior at CSUN, and a spring 2010 graduate-hopeful, she also balances school with work.

Hovet is the general manager for a dance studio in Northridge called Gotta Dance Studio & Academy of the Performing Arts. She has been with the studio for about 13 years.

Hovet began with Gotta Dance Studio when she was first introduced to dance and was very intrigued with the art form. She started with the studio when she was in first grade and has worked her way up to being the general manager of the company.

“I see myself dying there. I love working with kids and teaching them to dance,” Hovet said.

Hovet also teaches different types of dance for different ages. Even though she teaches a variety of dances to her students, she specializes in tap. She usually dances to rock and sometimes to hip-hop music.

“I love tap dancing. I don’t tap the stereotypical Broadway dance, like the hat and cane. I mostly tap to rock music and hip-hop. I also go through [tap] shoes like water. I can sometimes go through shoes almost every three months or so. It’s ridiculous,” Hovet said.

Being a deaf studies major has always interested Hovet since she was in the first grade.

“I had a really influential teacher. She went above and beyond to teach us. She was really creative and taught my first grade class sign language. Ever since then, I’ve been so involved in the language,” Hovet said.

One of Hovet’s major goals in life is to work for the Los Angeles Unified School District (L.A.U.S.D.) and be an American Sign Language (A.S.L.) teacher during the day and a dance teacher at night.

“I had a deaf student come to the studio once and I was able to use sign as a way to communicate with him. And just seeing the light in his eyes that I was able to teach him tap by communicating in sign was amazing…I believe that there is a difference between being a teacher and an educator. If you can’t find different ways to teach a student something that they don’t understand, then you haven’t done your job,” Hovet said.

Time management and being able to multitask is one of her favorite things. Hovet said she is always trying to find ways to do a million things at once, but with a tight schedule like hers, it makes perfect sense.

Other things the 21-year-old dancer likes include live music, painting, and off-roading. When asked about what she would do if she had time, Hovet replied, “I would love to learn the Spanish language. I just love the Latin culture and learning it would be great.”