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Top of the Class: Juggling school and performing arts, Hannah Rollins achieved the best in both worlds

Hannah Rollins dances during a photo shoot at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre on Wednesday, May 29, 2019 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Rollins is the valedictorian at Hamilton County Collegiate High.
Hannah Rollins dances during a photo shoot at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre on Wednesday, May 29, 2019 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Rollins is the valedictorian at Hamilton County Collegiate High. Hannah Rollins dances during a photo shoot at the Chattanooga Theatre Centre on Wednesday, May 29, 2019 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Rollins is the valedictorian at Hamilton County Collegiate High.

From becoming valedictorian at Hamilton County Collegiate High School and graduating a semester early to performing with Janet Jackson, Hannah Rollins has built up a lengthy resume, both in academia and in her budding entertainment career at just 18 years old.

She’s always been a dancer. Ever since she was 2 years old, her parents told her she would only sit still to watch “Cats” and “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”

“I was just captivated by that kind of stuff,” she said.

At 5, she won a national dance championship, “and the trophy is still taller than I am,” she said.

After a while, though, her little sister Emily began performing with her, and she and her family realized dancing wasn’t just a hobby. So, when she was about 8 years old, Hannah started training with The Pulse on Tour, a traveling dance convention.