Meet the Intern: Cayla Singleton

Friday, September 12, 2025

Maria Rouzzo

Hi! My name is Cayla Singleton, and I am a Junior at Saint Martin de Porres High School.

Saint Martin has a Corporate Work Study Program (CWSP for short), where every grade gets sent off to work at different companies to get an experience of what having a real job is like, and also having the experience to work with adults. Freshman year, I worked at Whiting Turner, a construction company. During my Sophomore year, I worked at the American Red Cross. Now I am here working for The Greater Cleveland Film Commission!

A little bit about myself -- I have been interested in the creative arts since the age of 3. When I was 3, I started off dancing and performing on stage showcasing ballet and tap dance. As I got older, I also continued ballet and tap, along with also doing jazz, hip-hop, and African dance at Mayne Attraction Dance Studios, and Tri-C Performing Arts. I also performed a dance at Playhouse Square with Tri-C. Now I am 16 years old, and I do majorette dancing with the Lionettes Dance Team at Saint Martin. The Lionettes perform at all pep rallies, and they also perform at competitions with other dance teams outside of school. In addition, there are events that the Lionettes go to. An example of this is going to a tumbling class. We learned the prep for a back handspring, and also learned how to get our toe touches higher. As much as I enjoy dance, I also enjoy acting and writing.

At the age of 6, I started writing books. I made a whole series of books about two girls. They were inseparable best friends who did everything together. Sometimes I would read my books over to revisit my childhood and to see how creative I was at such a young age. At the age of 8, I started learning about acting and I realized it was something I wanted to try. I realized this after being in a play at a summer camp I went to. A few years went by, and I auditioned to be in a play at The Karamu House, and I got in. I was in the play “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” by William Shakespeare. I really enjoyed being in this play, and I have done other shows elsewhere with the people from the company.

I wanted to intern at The Greater Cleveland Film Commission because I feel this job would be a good fit for me. I know I can do interesting tasks here and enjoy working in this space. I am looking forward to learning the opportunities that the Film Commission has to offer, and showing up to work ready for the day.

My career aspirations are becoming an actress and an author. I would like to attend The Juilliard School and major in acting or writing, and then minor in dance. For acting, I would love to be in many films and also perform in Broadway films. As for being an author, I would like to write poetry, also along with dystopian books. I like writing poetry, to me it is calming and it is a good way of expressing myself. I have only written one dystopian story, but I do have many ideas for other dystopian stories.

I am truly excited to work here at the Film Commission, and to see my growth as a creative person at the end of the year!