What’s recently happened?
Looking forward to sectionals at the end of this month on February 24, the Munster High School (MHS) Speech team has been competing at various competitions to work up toward being successful at the state level. Earlier this month, the team competed in Apple Valley, Minnesota, and just this past weekend competed at the Bishop Noll Institute Meet.
Here are the Apple Valley competition results:
- Seniors Delaney Craig and Josh Decker placed in the semifinals for duo interpretation
- Junior Luna Gutierrez placed in the semifinals in United States extemporaneous speaking
- Senior Ari Jamerson placed in the semifinals in poetry
- Junior Niah Maduakolam placed third in prose interpretation and 4th in dramatic interpretation
- Senior Tara Gaither placed fifth in humorous interpretation
- Senior Kameryn Hubbard placed fourth in humorous interpretation
- Claire Han placed fourth in international extemporaneous speaking
The team practices every Tuesday after school, but many of the team members make schedules with their individual coaches to perfect their pieces even more. For example, Gaither works with her coach on Mondays to run through her program oral interpretation piece and with Jordan Mayer, head speech coach, on Wednesdays for her humorous interpretation piece.
“My coaches remind me that even if the writing is perfected, no one wants to sit and listen to someone just reading off of a paper,” Gaither said. “Voice and passion are extremely important. When it comes to content, being knowledgeable on your content and having organized thoughts is key.”
The team members choose pieces they can best work on to convey and connect to. Both of Gaither’s speech pieces are important to her as they share important messages about women.
“My humorous interpretation is definitely more light-hearted, but it discusses woman empowerment,” Gaither said. “My program's oral interpretation piece is about women being overly sexualized, and it brings a more serious tone. I think both of the pieces are super important topics that any woman can connect to.”
Here are some speech members’ favorite quotes from their pieces:
“Until we change the story, We cannot push for ‘girl power’ until we do something first about the men who try to exert power over girls wherever they go.”
- Little Red (Gaither)
“All that stuff we did was real for you, therefore it was real. It wasn’t for me, therefore it wasn’t. It’s all subjective, Adam. Everything.”
- The shape of things (Craig and Decker)
“I would like to have been a hero, but when it pops up on you that quickly, your only instinct is to save your own life.”
- Retracing the Path (Junior Richie Andrzejewski)
“Misconstrued perceptions of people; whether that be based on our race, gender, or religion occur, then ‘We the People’ form a perfect disunion”
- Nothing but the Truth (Junior Addy Ellis)
What’s coming up?
Here is a quick glance at events that are coming up for MHS:
The dance team placed first in both pom and jazz at the Lake Central High School Invite on February 10 and are now working toward Regionals on February 24.
Yearbook approaches its final deadline at the end of this month.
The choir has its Music in Our Schools Month Concert on March 6.
Black Culture Club is hosting a Black Expo on February 23 from 5-8 p.m. to showcase black-owned businesses and companies
The wrestling team is headed to State Finals in Evansville on February 17.
The Boys Swim team has Sectional Prelims at Lake Central on February 15.
Staff spotlight:
Earning his spot this year in the Indiana Thespian Hall of Fame for his 20+ years in theatre education, Ray Palasz, auditorium director, has spent the past eight of those years at MHS. Previously, he was the English and Technical Theatre teacher at Lake Central. As the auditorium director, he manages all of the events that come through the auditorium and runs the extracurricular theater program for MHS.
“I really enjoy the project management side of things,” Palasz said. “I like working with people who have an idea for an event and helping them make it possible, and of course, with our theater productions, that is another form of project management. I like bringing people together to make cool things happen and to help make the students’ shows on our stage come to life.”
Palasz became interested in theatre when he participated in his school’s Christmas musical in fifth grade. He tried to get into sports like basketball but found that sports were not his “thing.” After he was cut from the basketball team in sixth grade, he redirected himself to be more involved in theatre. Palasz finds that theater has many aspects that are open to those of various interests.
“In our theatre program, we are able to take any student who wants to work and find a way for them to showcase their strengths,” Palasz said. “You don’t have to be a great performer. For example, if you like computers, so much of our technical elements are computer-based. Theatre welcomes people from all walks of life. We all have our idiosyncrasies, but we accept them and even use them to a production’s advantage when applicable.”
Palasz notes that, especially during COVID-19, the arts have proven to be extremely impactful. The arts, and specifically theatre, is very important to Palasz, and he is glad that he is in a position to teach what he loves.
“I really like working in theatre because there is such power to impact the world in a way that other fields don’t,” Palasz said. “When COVID hit, so many people turned to the arts to pass the time, to cope, and to deal with their feelings. From new art being created to people binge watching their favorite streaming services, art is what helped people.”
Student spotlight:
President of Munster Theatre Company (MTC) this year, Clover Sakardy, senior, first became involved in theatre in sixth grade.
“I started theatre because I was an incredibly anxious person at the time and I wanted to try to branch out and use it as a way to make friends,” Sakardy said. “I was casted as Dwarf #8 in a ‘Snow White’ retelling. It was a little embarrassing, but I didn’t give up from there.”
Sakardy continued to improve her theater skills as she progressed through middle school and into high school. She now has many theatre accomplishments under her belt:
- received Outstanding Lead Performer at Regionals and State for her role as Benjamin in “The Yellow Boat”
- served as State Thespian Officer for the Educational Theatre Association
- awarded Best in Show in a group acting piece she did with Sophomores Evvy Kikkert and Wesley Harle
- received $100,000 dollars in theatre scholarships
Sakardy also has many goals she hopes she can lead MTC to achieving.
“I am hoping to get us involved in another outreach project like we did earlier this school year at Munster’s Monarch Festival,” Sakardy said. “Being active in the environment is important as theatre artists because it is so easy to create a lot of waste when working on shows, but sustainable theatre is definitely tied to educational theatre, so it is really important to be involved in that aspect.”
Continuing her passion for theatre, Sakardy plans to go for a Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre.
“Theatre is important to me and is all about telling stories that wouldn’t be told otherwise,” Sakardy said. “As a performer, I learn so much from every show I do. I feel that theater, at its core, is a pursuant of knowledge. Theatre makes me a better person.”