For H.S. seniors, a curtain call with no applause
- Brett Hiner: A Work in Progress
- May 12, 2020
- 884
As graduation approaches, this is the first column in a four-part series featuring some of the incredible students and staff of Wooster High School.
Part I: Performance
Whether in front of the classroom, patrolling the sidelines, advising a club or activity, or conducting a slew of singers/musicians, there is not typically a group of folks more invested in advocating on behalf of students than a school teacher.
As important as technology has become in the days of virtual learning, I have yet to encounter a colleague who does not desperately miss the daily classroom interactions and interplay for which our school system allows. It is the heartbreaking reality in which we find ourselves and is a reality that becomes all the more painful as we approach the most joyous time of the school year.
However, as the coronavirus continues to wreak havoc on the lives of students and their myriad activities for the spring, concern now mounts for what their summers are shaping up to look like. This is a worrisome reality for members of the speech and debate team, as well as some stage performers who spend their summers in their “home” (the Performing Arts Center at Wooster High School).
Plans to compete at the National Speech & Debate Tournament in Albuquerque, at least physically, have been cancelled, and for the seven members who earned that elite status, it is understandably devastating.
“Instead of competing live for an entire week, our performance has now been minimized to a single video. The adrenaline, the excitement and fear of performing in front of competitors and judges, the drive to make your speech connect with even just one person in the room, and the satisfaction of when you finally do are all gone. To me this isn’t speech and debate anymore,” national qualifier and senior Bryn Savidge said.
While bothersome, Savidge said, “The online tournament is something, though, and I am grateful to have some sort of platform to share my speech and raise awareness for my topic.”
Competing in public forum debate, senior Anna Nacci shares many of Savidge’s thoughts. “I was so excited to get to travel to New Mexico, and I was initially devastated that I would not be able to experience another tournament, as it would be my last ever,” Nacci said. “But with a lot of other things being cancelled, I am very thankful that I still get to debate, even if it is in my living room over the internet.”
Joining Savidge and Nacci in the online tournament and representing WHS are seniors Bekah Barnett, Stuart Courson and Sophia VanSickle and juniors Sierra Dewald and Lena Wiebe.
The summer impact of coronavirus is being felt in local theaters as well. A little over one month ago, Todd Patterson, artistic director for Summer Stage Wooster, made the difficult decision to put their staging of “The Music Man” on hold until summer 2021, a production to which high school drama club members often gravitate. Patterson created Summer Stage Wooster, in part, to serve as a booster club of sorts for the WHS Drama Club.
Last summer senior Grace Buchholz, current WHS Drama Club president, did some tech work for SSW’s production of “Oklahoma” and this summer was hoping to audition and be on stage for “The Music Man.”
“It saddens me that I won’t get to meet new people during (“The Music Man”). Every show I have ever been in or worked tech for, I have gotten closer with existing friends and made new ones. The people who are a part of theater are some of the coolest people I have ever met,” Buchholz said.
This past fall Buchholz starred as “Frenchie” in Wooster’s Drama Club production of “Grease.”
“After months of rehearsals and doing extra work to memorize lines, songs and choreography, not to mention building sets, it was so rewarding to entertain others. If it had to be my last show, at least we went out with a great one,” Buchholz said.
While acceptance of the situation has begun to set in for the Class of 2020, it is the lack of closure that many find to be the most difficult aspect of the virus.
“I miss my teachers more than anything, and I don’t know how to go off to college without properly saying goodbye. The senior class doesn’t get the closure we were expecting, so it’s going to be difficult to walk away from high school,” Savidge said. “Sometimes it feels like I’m at curtain call but no one is applauding.”
Amidst all the anger and frustration and sadness with which the Class of 2020 has been expressing and dealing, there also has been grace, patience and kindness. As a result I think it is safe to say their teachers, advisers and/or coaches are applauding louder than ever.
Next week, Part II: Sport.
Brett Hiner can be emailed at workinprogressWWN@gmail.com.