Year 11 pupil Isabella Panozzo, 17, has been offered a place in the much coveted summer residency for senior students with the Sydney Festival for a week next January.

Miss Panozzo has also been offered a year-long place with the inaugural Young Belvoir Theatre Club for 2017 and believes these opportunities are a good way to get a “foot in the door”.

“So I can say I have gone this step further and I have put myself out there,” she said.

“I’ve met so many new people from the programs that I've done [previously]; I think it is about who you know.”

Both opportunities will introduce her to prominent actors and directors, as well as offering unique insights into theatre production and performance.

It comes after she spent most of this year year involved in a similar initiative with the Sydney Theatre Company’s Young Wharfies Program for senior drama students.

“I love acting because I enjoy the challenge of creating a character and telling a story. I can express myself on stage in more ways than I can anywhere else,” she said.

“[Acting] is an opportunity for a little bit of escape from your everyday life, and the applause you get at the end is definitely the best part.”

For over a decade Miss Panozzo has not only honed her skills at St Mary’s, but also through The Drama Studio acting school at the Illawarra Performing Arts Centre.

She initially got into the program following her two older sisters who enrolled to boost their confidence.

Miss Panozza has also been involved in numerous theatre productions with studio, including being involved in collaborations with the National Theatre of London and University of Wollongong theatre groups.

Fiona Gabb-Finley, teacher at The Drama Studio, said her enthusiastic student was always looking for opportunities to extend herself in both performance and other aspects of theatre production.

“She’s gone above and beyond already to pursue additional opportunities … there’s really nothing stopping her,” Mrs Gabb-Finley said.