Performing in front of billions of people one day, back at school the next part-time star Nikki Webster blends back in at assembly.

By ABAN CONTRACTOR

At 8.15am yesterday, Nikki Webster walked into school weighed down by a huge backpack but oblivious to the burdens of celebrity.

The tiny star of the Olympic Games opening and closing ceremonies was simply happy to be among friends.

Dressed in school uniform, face scrubbed of make-up, the 13-year-old sat through English, school assembly – where she received the principal’s gold award “for a most professional performance” at the XXVII Olympiad – recess and rollcall.

And every now and then someone asked for her autograph.

The McDonald College daily bulletin said Nikki was not required to pick up a bus pass or pay for chocolates already eaten. And she is unlikely to be on detention next Tuesday or Wednesday.

“I was actually looking forward to coming back to school because I hadn’t been here for three weeks during the Olympics and I wanted to come back and see everybody,” she said. “We did a little bit of English. We actually started to do some work, but we started chatting more than doing work.”

While Nikki took a starring role, almost one-third of the Strathfield private school’s 380 primary and secondary students played a part in the Games spectacular. Some sang, some danced, and some swam their way through Deep Sea Dreaming.

“It was great fun to know that people I knew from my school [which specialises in theatre arts] were actually performing with me and having a good time,” Nikki said.

The Year 8 student has cut her first CD, We’ll Be One – “Hopefully, it gets to platinum” – and will have a starring role in a Hollywood film, The Vanilla Gorilla, to be shot in South Africa and directed by Randal Kleiser of Grease fame.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald (via NikkiWebster.dk)