One final family

Fossil Ridge High School has just about every activity anyone could want to participate in. The school boasts, if I remember correctly from the tour I was given as a nervous, awkward eighth-grader, the best-equipped weight room in the state. One can pick from a range of sports that includes baseball and field hockey, swim and dive and cross country. Last year’s Lip Dub has, at last count, 102,000 views, and the TV program hosts its own film festival, Films on a Shoestring, each year. Clubs including Amnesty International and Uke Revolution each aim to change the world in their own right. And, of course, what other high school can lay claim to a teacher band called Staff Infection?

As a senior who has been involved with Journalism for four years at the school, I would have liked to believe I had seen most everything the school has to offer. I followed the Ridgebotics team to Denver, followed the softball team on championship runs, followed the beat of school life wherever it took me.

And, through all that, the word “follow” stood out. Despite getting to see my school community from hundreds of angles and the families that formed within each and every activity, which no doubt made me a more open-minded, accepting person, I missed out on the experience of pouring my heart into a single activity, a single experience alongside others who worked just as hard. That is why it seems only fitting that the last Journalism project I ever embark on is the opposite of anything I have ever done—that I, rather than following, dive in.

Throughout the rest of the semester, I will be documenting every possible aspect of the spring theater production: One Man, Two Guvnors. My role on the tech cast list reads “Documentarian,” and my job will be to do just that: to represent the hours spent, the friendships formed, the heart poured in to a play most of Fossil will only see once.

Each week, the school community will get a glimpse at a single tech crew, actor, or aspect of One Man, Two Guvnors that might otherwise be overlooked. My hope is that, through those snapshots, we will all find ourselves a little more informed about the commitments and passions that drive our fellow Sabercats.

This will not only be a challenge for my writing abilities, which only turned toward the arts last semester. Instead, it will force me out of my comfort zone, into a world most kids call simply “the theater hall” with a slight tone of mystery and wonder. As I explained I have been walking into events I do not understand for years. Figuring out what is going on and who you should interview is the easy part. Staying, learning, forming relationships and doing justice to something so many people love and care about is harder. I intend to pour as much heart into this project, and this production, as anyone. It will absolutely push me, as someone who tends to shrink back and let others do the talking. However, there is no better way to finish my last months of high school then with one final challenge—and one final family.