Current F.I.R.E. Members

Owen Rice
Rowan Sharma
Jolie Smith
Cameron Tyznar
Izzy Scozzaro
Aidan Tan
Eshan Vishwakarma

Leadership Task Force Bios

Felix Sammons 
Hey! My name is Felix Sammons and I am the creator and acting Executive Chief of F.I.R.E. which stands for Friends Igniting Real Experiences! I saw the potential that SPARC and its students had to make a strong lasting impact on the community. Through the experiences with F.I.R.E., the student leaders of SPARC are able to grow as leaders and individuals while making the changes they want to see in the community. I run the Task Force meetings and the membership meetings with my fellow Task Force members. 

Typically, we run under a schedule consisting of a monthly in-person meeting. Now, we have optional meetings every Saturday as well, trying our hardest to maintain the momentum we gained at the beginning. Currently, we are planning a charity event for Coronavirus Relief to hold towards the end of summer. 

Fun Fact: I am the second youngest of six! 

Anjali Sharma 
Hey everyone! My name is Anjali Sharma, and I am the Vice Chief of F.I.R.E this year. When Felix suggested the idea of a student outreach group earlier this year, I immediately thought that this would be such a fun and impactful idea, considering the number of students in SPARC and in our community that are looking for an outlet to help others and grow in leadership skills. I have loved learning leadership skills through the Leadership program at my school, so I am glad that I can exercise these skills as Vice Chief. In this role, I enjoy helping to run the meetings, providing ideas, and encouraging our members to participate and help the community. I think this group has a lot of potential moving forward, as we have had to stall our immediate activism during quarantine. However, there is no shortage of ideas and planning during this time! I love seeing everyone during our weekly zoom calls, and I am excited for the Coronavirus Relief event we want to run once it is safe to leave our houses!

Fun fact: My family loves to foster cats and kittens! We have fostered over 200 in the past 4 years:)

Keely Seward
What’s up! It’s ya Girl, KSWIZZLE! Also known as Keely Seward. I am the designated “Fun Master” for Friends Igniting Real Experiences! As I feel many people at this age feel, I want to make the world a better place, so when I heard from Felix about this great opportunity to connect to our community and make people’s days better, I thought yes. Plus, I love games, so being able to force people to play games with me is super great! FIRE is such a great program that I think has a lot of potential because it finds people who want to make an impact on their society and gives them the outlet to do so. I have been participating in Sparc’s live art program as well as their rehearsal and production shows for many years and really love sparc’s desire to reach out to everyone in the greater richmond area! 

Fun Fact, when I was six I decided to start a collection of acorns. I got up to 82 acorns and then decided there are so many acorns that I don’t really need my own collection. 

Rylie Nuckols 
Hi there! I’m Rylie Nuckols, the secretary for FIRE. I’m in charge of attendance, ensuring that everyone is accounted for, and creating the schedule for each monthly meeting. During meetings, I help lead important conversations and brainstorming. I joined SPARC’s Live Art when I was 10. Now, I’m 17, and so excited to be a part of FIRE. It’s very important for teenagers to surround themselves with people who are passionate about similar things. FIRE encourages that, and the service work we do will help our members want to continue to serve, and that is so important in today’s world. During quarantine, we have been holding meetings through ZOOM, so that we can stay connected and still brainstorm. I can confidently say, the virus will not affect our potential. 

A fun fact about myself is that I have never done a play for SPARC, and if you’ve never acted or been a part of a show, you can still join us. If you are passionate about what we stand for, we would love to have you come be a part of FIRE!

Owen Buckenmaier
Hey everyone! My name is Owen Buckenmaier (some people call me Obuck) and I’m the Surveyor for FIRE. As Surveyor, I’m responsible for keeping track of dates for planned events and making sure that the SPARC staff and FIRE members are on the same page. I also collect student feedback and improve our group based on ideas and suggestions given by the members themselves. I took my first SPARC class in 5th grade, and have been doing SPARC shows every year since. I joined FIRE after having discussions with other students about how much they wanted to participate in community outreach with SPARC. After I was invited by Felix, I was super excited to get the program up off the ground and running. Through FIRE, I hope we can inspire other theatre students to use their passion for art and fun to influence change in their communities, big and small.

Fun fact: I got the nickname Obuck simply because there was another Owen in my school’s drama department. Owen Rice also does SPARC, so a few of our mutual friends just combined my first and last name and called me Obuck to simplify things when we were in the same room. After that, it just stuck and some of my friends only call me by that name.