Who was your favorite character on “Wizards of Waverly Place”? Many would say Alex Russo, the protagonist played by Selena Gomez, or her nerdy older brother, Justin, played by David Henrie. Mine, however, was definitely Harper, Alex’s non-magical best friend, an oddball (remember that time she wore an outfit made up of rubber ducks?) in love with Justin.
Part of it was because of Jennifer Stone, the actress who played her, who imbued Harper with so much nervy charm. And as a weirdo 12 year old struggling with their weight, I identified with the kooky raised-in-a-circus weirdo (Harper, I’m talking about Harper) who wasn’t Hollywood-thin. This led me to casually follow Stone’s career, from her “Harriet the Spy” series and her pseudo break from acting to get a degree.
So that’s what I thought about when I saw a Teen Vogue article show up on my timeline, announcing that Stone was now a registered nurse on the coronavirus front line.
On Apr. 6, Stone wrote on her Instagram account, “a very good friend of mine (@maiarawalsh) pointed out to me that today is #worldhealthday. It is also the day I went from a volunteer, then a student nurse, and now an RN resident. I just hope to live up to all of the amazing healthcare providers on the front lines now as I get ready to join them,” accompanied with a photo of her ID cards to chronicle her nursing career.
(Don’t worry, she hasn’t completely given up her acting career—responding to a fan in the comments, she wrote, “Still acting. Night shifts, coffee and naps.”)
In a feature with diabetes awareness organization Beyond Type 1, Jennifer shared that she made the switch to nursing to understand her own condition (she had been diagnosed with diabetes after filming of “Wizards”), “More than learning the semantics of beta-cells and autoimmune disorders,” she says, “I wanted to understand my body and the impact of Type 1.”
Frontliner nurse Harper! Whodathunkit?
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Stone’s Instagram account
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