I had the pleasure of attending the New Jersey State Thespian Festival for the second year only a week ago! I drove up early on Saturday and reconnected with some of the wonderful STOs I already met, as well as several new ones, in addition to the Chapter Director, Ms. Carolyn Little, and all of her amazing adult board members. As with last year, the STOs had prepared an opening ceremonies scene that incorporated the ITO, and the skit went off without a hitch! Students were thrilled to be at the festival, and after all introductions were completed, students were off to a big day of chapter select performances, IEs, workshops, and scholarship competition! I had the privilege of judging the Arts Advocacy Scholarship along with one of my favorite people Michael Di Bianco, and after a long morning of reviewing applications I then headed to the Honor Troupe book displays, where I worked with Troy Taylor, the Alabama Chapter Director serving as the EdTA rep for New Jersey. It was a privilege to work with such inspirational and passionate people, and it was clear that the students knew how much their work was valued. My day wrapped up teaching a leadership workshop session to some awesome, inspiration students on how to "Roll With It" when dealing with challenges, conflicts, and confrontation in their personal and professional leadership lives! One of the most rewarding parts of teaching student leadership workshops what each session of students brings and teaches YOU as the presenter, and these students sure had a lot to contribute! After the workshop students prepared for the dance, before which Troy and I had the opportunity to talk to the delegation about EdTA grants, scholarships, a the upcoming TIOS program in March! Afterwards Troy and I headed back to our hotel (where the majority of the NJ Thespians were staying too!) and prepared for the next day ahead.
Sunday morning we were up bright and early back to Robbinsville High School to continue work for the Festival. On the second day students were able to continue IE performances and attending workshops as well as viewing Chapter Select performances and tech challenge, which occurred all day long. The STOs were hard at work at their table fundraising for Broadway Cares (which they raised over $3000 for!), state scholarships, and other unique opportunities for NJ Thespians. In the later half of the day students also had the opportunity to participate in the "Trashy Costume Contest," where they had a limited amount of time to create a costume made out of craft and trash supplies on a model of their choice according to the mystery theme presented. These costumes kicked off closing ceremonies, with an applause-o-meter determining the winner of the contest! The STOs made final fundraising efforts in a silent auction for several broadway show posters, and proceeded to select winners of many raffle prize contests. Also during closings the STOs and I got to run Minute to Give It, where in the 60 seconds put on the clock, the STOs ran around the auditorium with buckets collecting as much money as they possibly could for the Send a Troupe Foundation. This year, the NJ Thespians raised $500! After several minutes of frantic counting and coming to a final number, I had to head out, but the adventures and fun I had at the 2017 NJ ThesFest were some of the best all year.
A HUGE thank you to all the NJ Thespian Board members, especially the Chapter Director Ms. Little, and to everyone who was a part of making such an awesome event come to life. I was honored to have attended and I can't wait to see what they bring to the table at next year's festival! Make sure to keep up to date with the International Thespian Officers as we showcase these events on our social media platforms (@internationalthespianofficers on Instagram, @ITOOfficial on Snapchat, The International Thespian Officers on Facebook, @ITOChair on Twitter.)