For her Senior Project, Jillian Connolly created a short film about mental health awareness, and what life is like growing up with some common mental illnesses.

Jillian sang songs that touch on mental health issues such as OCD, generalized anxiety, and depression.
In regard to from where she got the idea for her project, Jillian said, “I always knew that I wanted to do something performing arts-related for my Senior Project. Mental health advocacy and awareness is also extremely important to me.”
She added, “Growing up, [I had] anxiety and OCD and had little to no resources in the media, I wanted to normalize these issues and show my personal experiences that others can possibly relate to.”
Jillian looked forward to learning more about the video editing process because she was “not super familiar with it. . . Because I have decided to incorporate film into my project, I have to learn more about different software and editing styles.”
According to Jillian, the most challenging part was “planning everything out and trying to divide my time. I learned how much goes into making a short film, and how much time is needed to make it the best it can be.”
Jillian hopes that her project will help her branch out and explore more performing styles as she has a passion for making music. She worked on a lot of the recording during spring break although she did have some songs recorded before then.
In her free time this past school year, Jillian was avidly involved in JC’s theater department. She also likes to play ukulele and hang out with her friends. She is sad that her time participating in JC musicals is over but is continuing her interest in performing arts at West Virginia University where she plans to major in Musical Theater.