Fernanda Oliveira

For professional ballet dancer Fernanda Oliveira (BAAS ’24), two poignant curtain calls occurred the same week in May 2024. First, the closing performance of her final show as a corps de ballet member of the Philadelphia Ballet. Second, the graduation ceremony to celebrate her completion of a Bachelor of Applied Arts and Sciences (BAAS) from the University of Pennsylvania.

Four years earlier, Fernanda (originally from Brazil) moved to the East Coast from Colorado, where she had completed an associate degree in psychology while dancing with the Colorado Ballet. Eager to continue her higher education, Fernanda was intrigued when she learned from a fellow dancer about a part-time bachelor’s program at Penn.

The BAAS program’s online format would allow Fernanda to study at an Ivy League university while continuing her demanding career as a dancer. There were even scholarship opportunities for part-time students. “Then, learning more about the program, I found out about the wonderful instructors and the materials I was going to get to interact with,” she says. “The program was perfect for what I needed.”

Fernanda was accepted to the BAAS for fall 2021. “I was lucky enough to receive the Bread Upon the Waters Scholarship,” she adds with gratitude. “That allowed me to pursue the program.”

To fit school into her work life, Fernanda leaned into her ballet training. “Dancing professionally teaches you to be very disciplined and how to manage your time,” she says. She stuck to a schedule and often brought her laptop to rehearsal, completing homework and asynchronous lectures during downtime. “It was a good break from what I was doing physically in the studio,” she says.

In addition to flexibility, the Penn LPS Online program provides a nurturing environment focused on student success. Throughout her studies, Fernanda recalls working closely with her advisor to choose the courses she would find most engaging while keeping on track toward graduation. “The program also makes it really easy to reach out to instructors,” she adds. “If I ever had to miss a synchronous session because I had a performance, I knew I could contact the professor and arrange to make up for that, so I had a lot of help.”

During her courses, instructors conveyed what Fernanda describes as an inviting and obvious “joy of teaching” that draws the best out of the class. “They had the ability to bring students together and encourage collaboration and even disagreement so that we could learn from each other,” she says. “That was a really wonderful feature of the program that I wasn't expecting, given the nature of being online and part time: There was still a bonding experience that you had in class.”

For her concentration, Fernanda chose Data Analytics and Psychological Sciences, which introduced her to positive psychology, a subfield of psychology focused on well-being and human flourishing. “When I first joined the BAAS program, I was on a path to become a clinical psychologist. I wanted to work with dancers, artists, and athletes to help give them resources to cope with the pressures of their craft,” she explains. “Some of the ideas I learned in my applied positive psychology courses allowed me to envision certain positive psychology interventions that would fit my colleagues very well,” she says. Putting her coursework into practice, Fernanda partnered with her ballet company manager to lay the groundwork for resilience training for dancers. “Something I really loved about this program is how easy it is to apply the information we learn in class,” she says. “All the classes are really focused on teaching us how to use the concepts we learn about every day, and how to think about the future, change, and progress.” 

Drawn to positive psychology, Fernanda continued in the subject beyond her concentration requirements to earn the 6-course Advanced Certificate in Positive Psychology. Still, her plans to pursue psychology as a career changed during her studies, and a new future became clear. “I started to think that my calling wasn't to provide psychological services, but rather to facilitate access to them,” she shares. Concurrently, her engagement with the dancers' union—meeting labor lawyers, drafting contract language, and helping with negotiations—sparked an interest in the law. “Through all of that, I started to think that my path was to pursue a legal education.”

Adding LSAT prep and law school applications to her schedule, Fernanda once again found support from the Penn LPS Online program team. She is especially appreciative of Leona Brandwene, an instructor and the director of the Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology, and Kristin Sowden, the associate director of career advising and programming, for their vital support in applying and transitioning to law school. 

Several months before completing her bachelor’s degree, Fernanda was accepted to New York University’s School of Law for fall 2024 and offered a full scholarship as an AnBryce Scholar.

In her last semester at Penn, Fernanda was honored with the annual Association of Alumnae Continuing Education Award in recognition of her academic achievement and leadership qualities. “Winning the continuing education award means the world to me because my parents didn't have a chance to attend college,” she says, “and having the privilege to not only graduate from Penn, but to have my work acknowledged by the Association of Alumnae is surely beyond my dreams.”

At the Penn LPS graduation ceremony in May 2024, days after retiring from ballet, Fernanda’s undergraduate career concludes as she walks across the stage to receive her degree. Her parents, who flew from Brazil for the first time to be part of this moment, are watching from the audience.

As she steps into her next act as a law student, she shares, “I feel very grateful for what I've been able to achieve with the help of the program. And also, I feel a huge sense of responsibility. The whole point of receiving an education is that you can then pay it forward and you can elevate other people with you. And that's truly what I feel moving forward—a sense of responsibility that I need to not only open the door but keep it open for other people.”

Addendum:

This summer, after completing her first year at NYU Law, Fernanda will be interning with the nonprofit Women's Law Project in Philadelphia working with staff attorneys on issues involving gender and health equity.