As the audience stills, freshman Grace Reising places her bow to the strings of her violin, preparing for the final piece of the orchestra’s spring concert. The spring concert earlier this week was the last concert of the year for the orchestra and marks the end of the first year of high school performances for freshman string players.
This milestone provides an opportunity for many freshmen to reflect back on this year and to compare to years of musical experience at Highland Hills.
“People are more committed. The music’s harder, but it’s more enjoyable because it’s more challenging,” said Reising. At the same time, pieces are often mastered more quickly at the high school level, despite the more difficult music.
“The music’s a lot quicker to learn, because there’s less distractions,” explained freshman Lauren Titus. However, this may also lead to more stress on a musician’s part at times.
“Teachers give us more respect — they treat us like adults,” said freshman Anna Rogers. “It’s a disadvantage [sometimes], because they expect a lot more of you in high school.”
The transition from middle to high school has its highlights though, according to Reising.
“It’s more organized, and we get more independence. The high schoolers seem a lot less terrifying now.”
Parents and friends alike cheer as sophomore Alex Jamison and junior Erin Patterson play doubles together against Columbus North in the tennis tournament on Saturday. Saturday’s tournament was the team’s first of the season.
“I think we’ve been doing pretty good,” said Patterson. “It’s a little different, because we had to start without our two best players.”
Both girls feel that the team will do well this year.
“With a lot of practices and matches, I think this season could turn out pretty good,” said Jamison.
“I believe we can get back to state this year,” Patterson added.
Coach James Markert also intends for the team to make a return appearance at state this season, for the fifth consecutive year.
“The last four years we’ve been in the top four teams in the state. I think we will this year, too,” he said.
The tennis team has made some changes in structure this year, as well as having fewer seniors.
“Last year we had a set goal, but this year, it’s all on the fly, which I like,” said Jamison.
The team, although having lost several All-State girls, has gained four new members.
“We have three new freshmen and our Italian foreign exchange student, Georgia. She’s awesome,” said Jamison. The new teammates have integrated well with the rest of the team.
“They get along really well,” said Patterson’s mother, Tami. “They have a really strong bond. I think they’ll do well this year.”
The tennis team’s next match is tomorrow (Tuesday, April 15) at home against New Albany.
On Wednesday, March 12, the band program came together for the annual Pops concert. The concert included performances jazz, concert, pep, intermediate and advanced bands. It also featured the final performance of “Currents” by the marching band and a look at the show “Repeat” by the Winter Percussion Project.
The concert featured songs from famous movies such as “Shake a Tail Feather” from The Blues Brothers and “Somewhere,” the ballad from “West Side Story.” Another piece played by the advanced band, “Redacted,” was found to be popular with several of band members. This included trombone player senior Craig Bossley.
“It’s so weird. It hits you when you don’t expect it,” said Bossley.
A number of the musicians had differing opinions on the quality of the concert, including trumpet player freshman Robert Wormley.
“It went well. Not great, but well. It didn’t seem as perfect as it did in the classroom,” he said.
Tuba player junior Brandon Blasdell, on the other hand, felt that the concert went exactly as intended.
“It went just as we planned, because we rehearsed it in class a lot,” he said.
Not only did this concert provide entertainment through instruments, it also showcased routine dances performed by the A and B winter guards. B guard, which is for younger teens and new members, performed to the song “Lego House” by Ed Sheeran. Next the A guard, which is for the more experienced members, performed to “Moonlight Sonata” by Beethoven.
Most of the experienced guard members appeared positive about the performance beforehand.
“I’m really excited because we’ve been working hard at this since November,” said junior A guard member Madi Wiley.
However, less experienced guard members such as junior Meg Buckalew expressed that the routines are harder than what is expected.
“It gets easier depending on how long you’ve been doing it. Tossing’s harder than dancing,” she said.
At the end of the performance, band director Harold Yankey thanked the audience for coming out and expressed gratitude towards his students.
Wormley concluded that since it was the last time playing that marching band show, it was very emotional.
“Alright ladies and gents, line up for the last dance in the second ball,” said director Amy Harpenau.
Theatre students hastily take their places on the floor. As they disperse and the talking dies down, a countdown of “five, six, seven, eight” is given and classical music begins to play.
Pride and Prejudice is a play set in the early 1800’s about a young woman whose strong willed intentions clash with the surrounding beliefs of others.
“I think the sort of strict boundaries of this time period go along with relations between characters, because if somebody dances with the same girl twice, then it’s like ‘oh, well we’re expecting a marriage proposal now’,” said junior Chelsea Balmer, who plays Lady Catherine de Bourgh.
Pride and Prejudice is a novel originally written by Jane Austen. The book created the basis for the play later written by Jon Jory. Within this play, there are several themes: romance, independence, responsibility, and of course, pride and prejudice.
A major theme within both the play and the book is justified within the first lines, “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”
However, in order for these themes to be shown thoroughly, they must have actors who are able to naturally display them.
“When we choose a student for a role, we’re looking at the character qualities as a person and as an actor,” said Harpenau. “Actors are more than just what is written on a page.”
Director Amy Harpenau coaches senior Savannah Wormley and sophomore Ashley Denny. Photo by Megan Johnson.“Actors are more than just what is written on a page.”
The play is defined as a “satire,” meaning comical ridicule is used to show the indirect problems within the plot. As the play is a satire, actors must be able to act in a comical manner, yet still channel the true emotion of their character.
“I try to think about the character’s mental status,” explained Balmer. “I try to think, ‘how does that affect their thinking and their feeling?’”
Though the specifics of stage design have not been released yet, there will be a new addition.
“It will include an extension of the stage, allowing the actors to be closer to the audience,” said theatrical arts teacher Robbie Steiner.
“Hopefully the design doesn’t stick out; I want the audience’s focus to be more towards the students.”
Pride and Prejudice will be showing April 25, 26, 27 at 7:30 p.m. and April 26, 27 at 2 p.m.
“With such a range of characters, you are bound to find someone that you like. There’s a lot of great banter between the characters, so it’s fun, but there’s also a really good underlying message.”
In light of the multitude of recent school shootings, many people are wondering how they can keep themselves safe in college. While you can not exactly stop a crazed gunman from bursting into your classroom, there are plenty of fairly basic things that you can do to keep yourself and your friends out of potentially dangerous situations. After asking several college students and graduates, I came up with a list of the top 15 things that you can do:
Stay alert. Keep your head up and know what is going on around you. Do not walk around completely absorbed in your phone or iPod.
Know your limits. If you find yourself in a situation that feels unsafe or makes you uncomfortable, do not hang around.
Do not let strangers into the dorm. If your door does not have a peephole, consider getting one installed.
Be indoors when you are supposed to be. Do not go sneaking out at two in the morning. If you have to sneak around, that’s typically a sign that you should not be doing it (unless it is April Fool’s Day. Then it’s just fun).
Let a friend or roommate know where you’re going to be and when you expect to return if you are going out. Do not, however, post notes on your door, on their car, or in other public places.
There is safety in numbers. Everyone has heard this before, but it’s true. You have a smaller chance of something happening to you if you are surrounded by friends than if you are alone.
Stay sober, or have a designated driver and be aware of how much you are drinking. And hey, make sure you are 21 first.
Watch your stuff. Don’t run the risk of taking a bathroom break and returning to find your phone or laptop gone.
Lock the door and windows of your dorm room at night. Don’t prop open doors or put tape over locks.
Choose your school wisely. A school with a reputation as a “party school” is likely to have more problems than a quiet campus will.
Know how to defend yourself. Consider taking a self-defense course. If you don’t have the time for this, carry pepper spray or something similar. There are also products that combine the spray with an air horn. Don’t feel silly or paranoid for carrying it! Check to make sure that it is allowed on your campus first.
Know what safety offerings your school has. If there is an emergency notification system (email/text alerts), use it! Some schools will also have an escort system or shuttles if you need to get home late.
Put all emergency numbers in your phone.
Stay in areas with a lot of people. A crime is less likely to happen in an area with a bunch of people around.
Have enough money for a taxi and a phone call if needed. Don’t end up stranded somewhere. Keep your cell phone charged.
So there you have it. 15 pretty simple ways to take precautions against dangerous situations. Most of these won’t even involve a significant change in your day-to-day life, so there’s really not much reason not to do them! Like I said: you can’t stop some things from happening, but you can do something to prepare for if it does.
Official news source for Floyd Central High School
