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It’s several days after last week’s musical and I’m still experiencing a Big Fish alpenglow – the rosy radiance of the setting sun, say, over Castle Peak in the distance. With four shows over three days, our theater students played for what should be called a State Championship and won!
I often define excellence as ‘the process of becoming better than we once were,’ a quote I borrowed from Harold Best, a Wheaton College music professor. Last week, we witnessed the final product of the ‘process’ that began in January. Perhaps most important, we witnessed very different students from when they began working on Big Fish several months ago – a type of personal transformation.
I witnessed the results of an evolution of confidence – confidence that comes from finding one’s voice. Confidence that comes from stretching to do hard things. And confidence when you do something far beyond what you thought you were capable of doing. That’s the power of a theater program!
I’m also experiencing that alpenglow as I reflect on having over 50 students (over half of the VCHS student body) involved with Big Fish. And for many of those students, they doubled up while also competing at a high level with a Spring sport. Which leads me to another point. Although not perfect, VCHS has a school culture that strives to value the arts and athletics equally – a rare thing for high schools.
And all of this wouldn’t have happened without a supportive community. Our parent volunteers were amazing! The VCHS staff took care of so many details – shout outs to Tricia Adams, Heidi Cofelice, Kristy Maslan, and Krista McClinton. Speaking of Mrs. Cofelice, her leadership of her Art students with the set design and props was outstanding (did you like the elephants?).
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