SHARON, Vt. (WCAX) - Since 2006, Sharon Academy Middle School students have been participating in a circus! They take two weeks to prepare and then usually perform in front of a live crowd.
Due to the pandemic, that didn’t happen last year. But like everything else, it’s making a return, just virtually.
The students have been working with Troy Wunderle, a Rockingham, Vermont, native. He’s the former director of clowning for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey. And he’s the artistic director for Circus Smirkus.
As I mentioned, the performance will be virtual. So, they are filming videos of the rehearsals as well as performance videos, which will be released on Saturday.
Not only are the students learning physical skills, but they’re also getting a valuable lesson in figuring out how to make sure that the show must go on.
“It’s extremely important, in my opinion, to allow kids to continually pursue the activities that allow them to grow. What I’m trying to do is uncover the talents that they have, the interests that they have, give them enough variety that they find something that they lock into and get passionate about, and then pursue that activity to the best of their ability for those five days, encourage them every step of the way to get as far as they want to go,” Wunderle said.
Reporter Scott Fleishman: What is one of the big things you’re taking away from this week.
Amelia Bailey-Kellogg/Seventh-grader: You learn how to be determined and how to persist because the skills we’re learning are not easy. And so we’ve been persisting on that.
---
Scott Fleishman: What’s it like working with Troy?
Makayla Nichols/Eighth-grader: It’s really fun. He’s really fun to be around and super encouraging. And when he’s around, it kind of makes you feel like you can do anything. Even if you feel like you can’t.
“Studies of employers and colleges, that what they need is kids who can grow up into young adults who are able to work together, who are able to persevere through challenges, who are able to know how to do something well and how to embed that knowledge deeply. So, modeling those skills in a time that’s really fun allows them to fail forward, as Troy likes to talk about, into a place of growth and experience,” said Andrew Lane, the director of the Sharon Academy Middle School.
While the annual circus program is reaching out to current students, it’s having a lasting impact on former ones.
The practices and performances are being videotaped. They will be put together on Friday for release.
The person behind the camera is a Sharon Academy Middle School alum, Tray Fisk. Fisk recently graduated from Emerson.
“When I was a kid, I think I definitely lacked some self-confidence issues and those types of things don’t really leave you unless you get pushed out of your comfort zone. So being in middle school and being a part of the circus, and then going up to the high school and being a part of their musical, these were both really great opportunities where I had to push myself outside of my comfort zone and if I didn’t do that, I’m not sure if I would have ever gone to art school or if I would’ve ever tried to pursue filmmaking because it’s not the most obvious path to take, especially at a school like this,” Fisk said. “So this opportunity gave me the gusto that I needed to go off and follow my dreams.”
“One of the things that is true about the Sharon Academy is we want students to find what drives them, what moves them to grow as learners,” Lane said. “Tray is a great example of that. He’s nurtured that passion and taken a joy that he’s found in working with Troy way back in middle school and applying that to his adult life as a videographer. It’s a pretty awesome story there, too.”
Not only is Fisk filming for the performances on Saturday, but he will also put together a documentary on the program.
If you want to go to the virtual circus:
Saturday, May 15 at 6:00
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89782456676?pwd=QVAzV1Vqc0lURXVDUjVFNnd4Q3laUT09
Meeting ID: 897 8245 6676
Passcode: 71evj6
Copyright 2021 WCAX. All rights reserved.
"middle" - Google News
May 14, 2021 at 01:49AM
https://ift.tt/3feLYY5
Annual Vermont middle school circus program goes virtual - WCAX
"middle" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2MY042F
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update
No comments:
Post a Comment