Perhaps it hasn't been noticed by most, but there are some incredibly talented actors, singers and dancers attending our quiet little high school. While others are exercizing their Nikes, some students are tap dancing, acting, and singing their way into the school's notoriety around the county. In some cases, these students divide their time between both sports and theater, making their lives all the more richer for the variety.
Lately, CNN hosted a program that stated that the best way to keep kids away from drugs and alcohol is to make sure that they are involved in music. Interestingly enough, this same report also stated that the athletes of our school system are constituting the biggest drug user status. Personally, I was slightly shocked by such finding, since this new finding doesn't exactly mesh with the common misconceptions about both thespians and jocks. Usually, thespians are considered the geeks, the suck ups, and the socially excluded people in our schools. I have yet to be in a school where the auditioning for a play is considered as cool, or as popular as soccer tryouts. And where exactly did kids get this idea? Why is it that theatrical events aren't as crowd inducing as basketball games? Well for that answer, you can go to the teachers. When students are going to have a late game on a school night, teachers tend to make acceptions and allow assignments to be handed in the day after. However, teachers rarely do this. I believe I have had one such teacher (thank-you Mrs. Clements) who delayed the due date of an assignment because it was due right after the weekend of the show. But wait, there is more........
Two huge musical events have taken place for some Middleburgh students in the last two weeks. The first one was our annual theater production of Once Upon A Mattress. On March 15th through 17th, the participants blew watchers, and some fellow preformers, away with an admirable preformance. And, for three showings, 50 cast member pairs of watchful hopeful eyes only saw applause from approximately six teachers. Not to mention our principal, who took time out with her own family to come see our preformance. So, Mrs. Petrosino, on behalf of the Once Upon A Mattress cast, thank you. While I am on the subject, Ms. Bromley, Mrs. Merideth, Mr. Meyer, Mr. Pisano, and Mrs. Herodes all took incredible amounts of time out of their busy schedules to help us create this preformance. The thanks we own them is mind boogling, so, once again, on behalf of the cast, I thank you sincerely for your time and patience. The second event was All County Band and Choir, where more than 20 of our students sang and played their hearts out, doing an incredible job. The only teachers that this reporter saw at this event, were the ones that had family there, or were required to be there. However, basketball games tend to draw out a fairly large crowd of teachers, not to mention our superintendent once or twice, ironic, since the number of Middleburgh students participating in a game (players and cheerleaders) rounds off to about twenty-five. If teachers are showing up to support 25 students in their interest, why are they too busy to take three hours out of their day and support 50?
How are students supposed to learn to support their peers in different activities if the teachers don't even give them such an example to follow? Over the years, the music and arts department has recieved some hard knocks. If present trends continue with attitude and apathy towards this department in favor of athletics, there very well might not be a department left to revitalize. Teachers have to be equally understanding with all after-school activities, and kids have to be able to support their friends, or try different things, without fearing ridicule. Someday, I would like a reverse day, one in which sports were a joke, and theatrical students recieved a bulk of the understanding. |
