School.

Music.

Poetry slam competitions.

Acting classes.

And, oh yeah, costarring on a hit TV show.

So this is what counts as senior-itis for actress, singer and soon-to-be Sacred Hearts Academy graduate Tani Lynn Fujimoto.

"I'm just taking this year off to focus on school and myself before I start to pursue the next thing," Fujimoto said.

What, no theater productions? No new album (the last one is almost a year old)? No concerts?

What a slacker.

Actually, as she prepares to rejoin the cast of "Flight 29 Down" next month, Fujimoto finds herself at something of a crossroads.

She'll attend the University of Hawai'i next fall but isn't sure what her major will be.

After spending her teen years graciously answering questions about her budding music career, Fujimoto is entertaining the idea of living life from the opposite end of the tape recorder as a print journalist. There's also the possibility she'll follow her admiration for writers like Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sylvia Plath, Joan Didion and Chuck Palahniuk ("Fight Club") to its logical academic conclusion as an English major.

Or she may put off the decision until her intended transfer to New York University ... or maybe Columbia University.

What will she do with her newfound passion for acting? Or her lifelong love of music?

First things first: Fujimoto participated in her first poetry slam this weekend, an artistic venture she said has her "scared to death."

Fujimoto's poetry may surprise fans of her mainstream pop music.

"It can be abstract, raw, cynical and biting," she said. "It's the other side of me coming out."

Next month, Fujimoto rejoins the ensemble cast of Discovery Kids' "Flight 29 Down" for the filming of the final four episodes of the second season.

The show, co-produced by Hawaii Film Partners and series creators Stan Rogow and DJ MacHale, and shot entirely on the North Shore, chronicles the adventures of a group of teenagers stranded on a deserted island in the Pacific.

In Season 1, now airing Saturdays on NBC, Fujimoto's character Abby and three other survivors broke from the main group to look for help on the island. She returned alone at the end of the season then departed again to look for her missing friends.

Early indications are that when the peaceable but fiercely loyal Abby re-emerges this season, she'll be a decidedly different person.

"What I've been told is that my character is going to go through a huge arc, a big change with a lot of character development," Fujimoto said.

The 17-year-old actress said she's been preparing herself for the demands of a more action-packed season.

"They told me it will be physically and emotionally strenuous and challenging," she said. "I don't know if I'm scared or excited about that. But that's the whole point of the show — to experience what you can't on a normal daily basis."

Though she appeared in just half of last season's 12 episodes, Fujimoto said the experience was enlightening.

"I learned from the other actors how to develop a character and how to find yourself," she said. "Hallee (Hirsh) and I had conversations about film and TV, and about acting in general. She is very, extremely talented and she helped clear things up for me. She helped me progress."

Fujimoto said she also drew inspiration from the youngest member of the cast, 10-year-old Allen Alvarado.

"Allen is so pure and effortless in his craft," she said. "He doesn't let fear affect him."

Fujimoto said working on a local production, with a local crew, made the experience even more meaningful.

"It was very, very important," she said. "With a local crew, you get that sense of 'ohana, friendship and solidarity. You become a family. It's two different experiences on and off camera, but both are rich and full."

Fujimoto said she is committed to pursuing acting, whether it be on television or on stage. But where does that leave her musical career?

"Music will always be a part of my life, but I don't know if I want to be a performer," she said. "I'd like to do theater, like musicals, and I'm also interested in songwriting. I don't have any huge dreams of being famous. It's just a personal passion."

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.