Freshmen find a home in the arts

Freshman finds home in drama department

Most freshmen enter the world of high school dazed and confused, hoping to make the right impression and unsure what to do. This was not the case, however, for freshman Natalie Miller.

“It was really easy for me to come into high school because I did [‘The 25th Annual Putnam County] Spelling Bee,’ and I got to meet lots of upperclassmen,” Miller said. “I came in really comfortable with the drama department.”

Miller said she has found a welcoming home with the drama department and has enjoyed theater since elementary school.

“I did my first show in second grade at the community center. It was ‘A Rock and Roll Cinderella Story,’” Miller said. “It was a ‘50s Cinderella story, and I was a mouse. It was fun, and I was like, ‘I wanna do this!’”

Miller is one of six freshmen in Drama 1 who attend the Advanced Drama class due to a large freshman class size. Miller says she doesn’t feel out of place, though.

“Everyone is so weird; it is so wonderful. Everyone just kind of goofs around, so I always know I’m going to smile when I go into drama class,” Miller said. “Everyone is really fun and welcoming, and it’s fun to have drama.”

Boy follows in father’s programming footsteps

The word “animation” usually brings to mind children’s movies, like “Beauty and the Beast” and “Up.” But for many teenagers, animation also refers to the hours of time dedicated to playing a multitude of video games. What they don’t realize is the hours spent programming the games, working out the glitches and providing the best playing experience possible. One such programmer, on a small scale, is freshman Tony Holt.

Holt is a member of the animated graphics class taught by Tony Palma and enjoys creating games and animations using Flash. He first became interested in programming because of his father, who creates games.

“He started game-making for Playdom and Disney, so now I want to follow in his footsteps,” Holt said. “[I want to] do something to do with computers.

Holt took a computer class in eighth grade, but says it wasn’t nearly as interesting as the one he is in now.

“Back then we just played with different software, like Gimp and a bunch of other stuff, but we didn’t really do anything useful,” Holt said.

Holt enjoys not only the technical side of his class, but also the new friendships he has forged as he adjusts to high school.

“I made a bunch of new friends,” he said. “Some of them are only in my animated graphics class.”

The class provides a time to enjoy programming with Flash, one of Holt’s favorite programs.
“It’s basically just Photoshop and Flash,” Holt said. “ [We use] Photoshop so you can learn how to use the tools that you need for flash later on. It’s really fun.”

Freshman relieves stress through art

Ask freshman Anna Sapel what her favorite class is, and she’ll say without hesitation that she loves art.

“It’s that one class a day where you get to just go, and have fun, and relax, and do something you really enjoy versus actual schoolwork,” Sapel said.

Sapel has enjoyed art since middle school, where she used her talent to paint posters for the Leadership class.

“I didn’t take the actual art elective, because I had other electives, but I took the Leadership class, where we got to make posters,” Sapel said. “I liked to play with drawing on the posters, and [creating] graphics. It’s nice to finally take an art class.”

Sapel said high school is much less stressful than she expected and that art was a big part of making the transition easier.

“Everyone says high school’s supposed to be really high stress and a lot of work and lots of tough classes,” Sapel said. “It’s nice to have one class where you can just go and relax and make everything a little bit less stressful.”

Sapel has enjoyed art since she was little, when she drew plants and animals. Now, she enjoys the chance to sit back and relieve the stress of the day.

“You get to listen to music, [Stephen McCue will] let you bring your iPod and listen to it a lot,” Sapel said. “Mr. McCue is a great teacher, so that’s why it’s really fun.”