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  • 1.  Senior traditions?

    Posted 04-25-2016 21:55

    At the end of each year, we hold a banquet celebrating everything we've done that school year.  Typically, it's very casual and laid back complete with a potluck, silly awards, and Thespian inductions/graduation medals.  However, I'm wanting to start a tradition for my outgoing seniors. . .something the underclassmen can do for them.  Currently, I have all my seniors sign a ceiling tile in our makeup room, but I want something they can take with them--be that an actual gift or even just a memory.

    What do you do for your graduates?

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    Annie Rice
    Spring Hill TN
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  • 2.  RE: Senior traditions?

    Posted 04-26-2016 06:16

    We create scrapbooks for our Seniors. The underclassmen create pages for each scrapbook, with the only 'requirement' being that they include a picture of themselves with the Senior, so the Senior knows who it is from. This is all coordinated by the Troupe Historian.

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    Rebecca McMillan
    Drama Teacher
    Saint John Paul II Academy

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  • 3.  RE: Senior traditions?

    Posted 04-27-2016 09:42
    I am finishing up my first year as Director of Theatre at Leavenworth High School. Their past traditions for seniors include a banquet and a will and prophecy section in which next year's officers present each senior with a prophecy of what they believe the senior will accomplish after high school. This year, I have added a tradition, brought with me from my previous theatre school. We are producing a senior showcase- this year it is The Fantasticks, directed, designed, and performed by seniors. On closing night, the senior parents receive free admission. After the show, there is a special presentation of each senior and their parents, with the Principal reading each students' involvement in theatre, their most memorable moment, and their plans for the upcoming year. This is followed by a slideshow featuring the scope of all of the seniors theatre adventures over their years of high school. The seniors and their parents are given a DVD of the slideshow as well. The evening ends with a reception in the foyer for the seniors and their families. The junior theatre students put the reception together each year as their way of thanking the seniors and stepping into their upcoming senior leadership roles. It is a pleasure to see the seniors shine.


    Jennifer Morgan-Beuchat
    Director of Theatre
    Leavenworth High School
    Kansas Thespian State Board
    Kansas Thespians Public Liaison
    Kansas Alliance for the Arts Board of Directors


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  • 4.  RE: Senior traditions?

    Posted 04-27-2016 10:25

    Our end-of-the-year ceremony is held in the theater. Just before I announce the winner of the William Shakespeare award, I invite all of the seniors onto the risers on the stage and play Susan Boyle song Who I Am meant to be. Well the song is playing, I move from one senior to the next giving them a hug and thanking them briefly. I also give them a small gift bag. In the gift bag are lots of little inexpensive odds and ends such as pencils, Post-It note pads, whatever I have might have around that I have enough of for everyone. Also in the gift bag is a little scroll with the lyrics to the song and a marble with the globe painted on it because common among the lyrics, is this phrase

    I've got the world in my hands

    And it feels like like my time to fly

    I always worry that the audience will get bored just watching and not being able to hear what's going on. But that never happens. I think that the most senior as I have had in any given year was about 20 so I am usually done very close to write about when the song ends and while I am giving the the gift bags to the seniors, I always hear tears in the audience. So it seems to be as meaningful to the audience as it is to me and the seniors

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    Helen Dixon
    Oakley CA

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Senior traditions?

    Posted 04-26-2016 07:29
    Hi! We have underclassmen give a Senior a Speech. It's surprise- the Seniors don't know who's going to give a speech for them. The udnerclassmen talks about what kind of impact the senior has had on their life and on the troupe. Afterwards the senior gives a short farewell speech- their parting words for the troupe. I make a slide show with all of their Thespian and Theatre credits on it, plus photos of them in shows and as a child. I include any scholarships or awards they've won as well as what they're doing after graduation. I gie each graduating senior a book that would be useful for their future plans.

    Victoria Kesling Councill
    Chapter Director - VA EdTA/ Virginia Thespians
    Theatre Director- Fine & Performing Arts Department NKHS
    Artistic Director - NKHS Trojan Theatre
    Artistic Director - Kent England Exchange Production
    Virginia Commonwealth University BFA Theatre Education, BFA Art Education '08

    "Love the art in yourself and not yourself in the art." - Konstantin Stanislavski



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  • 6.  RE: Senior traditions?

    Posted 04-26-2016 08:59

    At our banquet, each Senior receives a nice mini trophy with a cap on it and it is engraved 

    South San Team Drama... Class of ____ ... And the years they participated in the program.  

    They are given the awards one by one and I make a small speech about each student and then the underclassmen are allowed to speak and share memories of that student and their contributions through out the years.

    Jill 

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    Jill Gable
    Theatre Teacher/director
    Jill Gable
    San Antonio TX

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  • 7.  RE: Senior traditions?

    Posted 04-26-2016 12:52

    We do just what you do plus, like our sports teams, have a "senior night", which directly after the last performance of our last show on the stage.  Parents, family, friends, teachers get a formal invitation and we recognize each senior with personal stories and fanfare. Our last production is also senior directed one-acts and an underclassmen committee will decorate our small lobby with something personal about each director.  This year was life-sized black paper cut outs with a red paper element unique to each student.  This style matched the show's marketing style.  Then we hung a photo with statements we collected from parents, friends, and teachers about each kid.  There wasn't a dry eye when the lobby was finally opened up and the display revealed. It helps I have a regular Martha Stewart as a Co-Director in the program.

     

    Brian Mead

    Colony High School

    Journalism, Yearbook, Media, Drama

    907-861-5585

     




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