SHAKESPEARE
Rose finds the next ShakespeareBY JORDYN WILLIAMS ON DECEMBER 19, 2013
To let students plan or not to let students plan; that is the question. In this case, the answer is yes. This year, the annual Rose High School Shakespeare competition, held on Dec. 17 during SMART Block in the Lecture Hall, was completely planned and organized by the members of the National English Honor Society (NEHS). This was the first year that the competition was completely run by members of the society.
The competition consisted of students memorizing a Shakespearean monologue with a maximum of twenty lines. They had a list of monologues to choose from that were posted on the door of NEHS advisor Ashley Hutchinson’s room. They then performed the monologue for a group of peers and a panel of three judges. The judges were Hutchinson, Ben Worthington, and Karen Medlin, all of whom teach English at Rose. The judges based their criteria on whether the students fully portrayed the meaning of the monologue and on the amount of feeling they put into it. This year’s winner was junior Preston Bradsher, based on her performance as Margaret from King Henry VI. Some students prepared for the competition by rehearsing every night after they picked their monologue. Bradsher said that her background in theater made it easier for her to prepare. “I walked around and memorized it one day in first period and read the story so I’d know what I was talking about,” Bradsher said. “I did it a few times in my head right before I went.” For the participants to have been able to put their feeling into their monologue, the NEHS members had to put feeling into the planning of the event. Hutchinson communicated her belief in the society to plan the event and in the president of the society, senior Ellie Lewis, to properly distribute jobs to members so that the event could run smoothly. “Ellie is a great president,” Hutchinson said. “I think she has selected excellent students to help plan, advertise and get people excited for the competition.” The NEHS held a meeting during SMART Block B on Nov. 22 to set a date and assign students to do certain tasks for the competition. The students were assigned tasks such as hanging up posters and gathering refreshments and snacks for the audience of the contest. Advertising as well as participating in the competition were both credit opportunities for the members of the NEHS. Some students that were assigned to be in charge of tasks included senior Maija Smith, junior Preston Bradsher, senior Cameron Teaney and senior Alice Reed. Many of the officers in the society expressed their enthusiasm about having the ability to participate in the planning process. “I’m glad we had so many people participate this year,” Lewis said. “We had seventeen competitors, which is fifteen more people than last year.” Viewer attendance also increased; many students came to watch the competition and eat the donuts provided by the NEHS. Though the judges said everyone did well, they decided that Bradsher had the best performance. Senior Austin Phillips came in second place with Keagan McCauley, Mariah Freeman, and Sarah Bailey receiving honorable mentions. “Preston will continue on to perform in February at the regional level in New Bern,” Lewis said. “I’m sure that she will do an excellent job.” HTML Comment Box is loading comments...
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