By Nina Sinclair, 7th Grade News Editor
Everyone knows about Noe Middle School’s acclaimed drama program that hundreds of students have gone through.
The students have put on so many productions and found a love for drama. In fact, numerous kids that never knew they had a liking for drama have gone into high school wanting to study it.
Compared to so many other middle schools, Noe has one of the best drama programs. Many students choose to go to this school for the drama program and it’s one of Noe’s biggest attractions.
However, this story is about the kids that start off as shy, and aren’t interested in drama right away.
But, by the time they graduate, the students are louder, more confident, and ready to audition for so many different productions in high school and outside of middle school.
“I love to see people perform. I love theater. I also love the idea that theater is more than just getting up on stage and being an actor.”
– Kim Joiner (AKA JJ)
Similar to the other related arts options, Drama allows kids to explore who and what they want to be, to prepare them for high school and students have a head start at finding the career they want to do for their life.
Kim Joiner (JJ) is the drama teacher at Noe Middle School, who is planning to retire next year. When asked about why she decided to teach drama, she replied: “I love to see people perform. I love theater. I also love the idea that theater is more than just getting up on stage and being an actor.”
Many of her students have gone on to become actors, thanks to some of the skills they acquired in their middle school years.
JJ loves to see the “excitement in kids, and seeing them work hard and then be proud of their work makes me very happy.”
Drama puts on a play every year for the entire school, while also working on script-writing and developing scenes.
While many of these kids enjoy this class, a lot of them don’t intend to study acting in high school, or college, not really considering it as a career. “Kids aren’t willing to take those chances like they used to, a lot of kids come into middle school on fire for theater, and then when they look at the realistic picture of what that looks like in high school and beyond, many of them trade it in for a more stable position.”
Even kids who aren’t pursuing acting after middle school, they still have a blast and will probably cherish the memories of the times they spent in drama for most of their lives.
Kids are able to grow and change in drama and they have learned to embrace the spotlight and be confident on the stage. “The number one fear in the world is getting up in front of an audience, and after taking my class I feel like kids are able to do that a little easier.”
Students feel the same way as JJ about the class, they love it, and they feel they have become different people in their time in this class.
Several drama students were asked if they had planned to participate in this class on their arrival at Noe, in which student Alexis responded: “No, not really. I thought I was going to be doing something that wasn’t drama, and I got here and I kinda wanted to do it, so I was like, yeah, let’s do it!”
However, another student, Olivia, felt completely different: “I always wanted to do drama, since I was little I wanted to be an actress, I wanted to be on stage.”
Whatever their motivations were for joining the class, it doesn’t matter because when they started, they knew that it was the right choice to join. Everyone that was questioned said that they have grown and acquired a new set of skills from drama.
Student Kylie said, “It gave me more creativity, because with character development you have to have creativity to know what you’re going to do and how to portray that character.”
She’s played multiple roles in her time in drama, and she’s learned how to get more creative with her parts and develop them more.
Another student, Finley, responded: “I’m a lot more social since I started drama in sixth grade, I was very shy until the second semester.”
Drama also gives you social skills, and for kids that maybe struggle with being able to branch out, drama really helps with making friends and having a good time in middle school.
Even if they don’t plan to join a class in high school, none of them regret the time they spent in this class, because drama will give not only skills, but memories that will stick with them for life.
