The Essentials

As you finally begin to settle in, there are a few things you need to know to have smooth sailing through high school:

Respect your Teachers
Let’s begin with your student-teacher relationship. Your relationships with your teachers are going to be an essential asset to your success here at Northside. Because of this, you should be serious about your classes. The urge to be a class clown or act disrespectful to your teachers to look cool is something you need to shy away from. When it comes down to it, your fate in school is just as much in your teachers’ hands as it is in yours. You earn your grade, but your teacher decides how easy it will be for you to earn it.

Distractions
Everyone speaks of the drama that will surround you in school, and, well, it is true. It is important that you do not get distracted by these things. There will be people fighting and arguing, trying too hard to be cool, skipping class, and every other thing they probably should not be doing. Find reliable friends, stay focused on schoolwork, and avoid the drama.

Be Yourself
This is something that we all struggle with, and that struggle usually reaches its peak here in high school. I know this is the topic that troubled me the most, and I wish I had someone to talk me through it when I was a freshman. There will come a point when you are exactly where you need to be academically, but you are having problems with your self-image. It is important to, as the title says, be yourself. If not, you are going to be so overcome with the pressure to impress others that you will lose focus on school. Being a student is a full time job, but you are also a teenager. Sometimes things will look like they will never get better, but that is how life is going to be. It is essential to be confident in who you are before you can be successful in any other area of life, including school.

Blake The Great’s Essentials
A fellow member of the staff, Blake Lowry, had a few words of wisdom he wanted to share with you as well:
a) There’s no pool on the roof
b) The pizza isn’t worth running for
c) Stay away from the left side of the football field after school on Fridays… just trust me
d) Don’t hesitate before accepting challenges or trying new extracurricular activities
e) Become best friends with at least one teacher
f) Keep your friends close and your enemies closer
g) Join the French Club
h) Just… relax. It’ll all be okay at the end of the day

Winter Cabaret 2012

Northside’s most recent Drama production was the 2012 Winter Cabaret hosted on Friday, January 27 at 7 pm and on Sunday, January 29 at 2 pm.  Formerly known as Dinner Theater, the show has been a tradition at Northside since the school’s opening in 2002. This year’s show was as entertaining and enjoyable as ever.

The show is always famous for its hilarious and well played MCs, but this year they raised the bar for future MCs to come. The theme was based on the well-known movie, Back to the Future, that hit the box office in 1985. Blake Lowry and Abby Fitts wrote the scripts for MCs and incorporated Back to the Future with some of our favorite teachers here at Northside, creating a twisted tale that kept everyone laughing. Brooks Bennett did a wonderful job playing our principal, Mr. Wilson, and enjoyed saying “schedule” just as Mr. Wilson would. Other MCs included Gabby Wilson as Mrs. Powell, Emily Fitts as Mrs. Fasick, Donavan Weldon as Coach Laney, and TJ Moore as Mr. Harper. MCs who played characters from Back to the Future were Blake Lowry as Doc, Abby Fitts as Jennifer, and Juan Rodriguez as Marty. The show consisted of the three main protagonists from Back to the Future going back in time and meeting our teachers as teenagers. Through their time traveling escapade they managed to skew the history of Northside which everyone found was the most memorable part of the show.

The cast blew their audience away with the first song “Back in Time” that corresponded with the Back to the Future theme. Another memorable number from this year’s Winter Cabaret was a duet by Gabby Wilson and Juan Rodriguez as they sang a mix up of “You and I” by Lady Gaga and “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry.  The cast left the stage on a more serious note just as the curtains closed for intermission after they sang “I Need You to Survive.” This number was different than any other number because they used sign language to interpret the song, making it all the more beautiful. Most of the audience found that the second half of the show was even better than the first. In the hippie number the cast interacted with the audience while singing the song “Hair.” The cast agreed that this was one of their favorite numbers because they loved dressing up in hippie attire. A student here at Northside, Kaysee Cross, was a member of the audience and said her favorite number was “Hair” as well. Jessica Shadix also saw the show and said she loved the couples’s number in which they danced and sang to “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”  The show came to a close with some astounding numbers including the famous O’ Girls and O’ Boys. The O’ Girls based their entire number on a rain theme this year and blew the audience away.  “I was really excited to be a part of O’ Girls as a first year cast member of Dinner Theater, it was an honor,” said Katelyn Marrone. The show went out with a bang with the well-known song “I’m a Believer” from the cartoon movie Shrek.

The show was a huge success as it is every year. Dinner Theater is the biggest fundraiser each year, bringing in thousands of dollars to benefit the always growing Drama department. Mr. Harper, the director/producer of Winter Cabaret thanks all who came and supported the show. He also hopes it was enjoyable for everyone. The cast is also thankful for their supportive audience. They agree that this production is much more than just a show but an experience from high school that creates memories to last a lifetime.  I would recommend to anyone that they should certainly buy a ticket to next year’s show. Winter Cabaret is one show you do not want to miss.

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