Kickoff to City Spotlights 2022
Week 1
By Brenden McHenry
City Spotlights is back! It has been thrilling to get back in the theatre with a new group of Teen Leaders and a fully in-person schedule! After two years of virtual and hybrid programs it is so wonderful to be back on stage with an enthusiastic cohort of Teen Leaders. The first week of the program, “Boot Camp,” allowed the Teens to start to express themselves and begin to get to know one another. Each afternoon, when the teens split up into their specialty groups, I joined music. I wanted to watch as they faced the pressure of writing the group song within the first few days of the program. I was blown away by the creative ability of the different teens in music as they collaborated on lyrics, hummed melodies into existence, and ultimately finished the song in the last couple hours of the day on Friday. I can’t wait to see how they will continue to grow, what else they will create, and how they’ll share their inspiring messages with the rest of their community.
Starting City Spotlights as a Junior Assistant by Bryce Mathieu
Today marks the first week of the program! Yah! The Teen Leaders that I've been working with this past week have been nothing short of amazing! Trust me you would be surprised, too, if you were hearing the conversations they’ve had this past week, completely mind boggling. There has definitely been some growth on my end (trying to not ignite in fury everytime someone STACKS THE CHAIRS WRONG, sorry). In all seriousness, I am still working on my leadership skills through bettering my communication skills, but still haven’t gotten there yet (but it’s only the first week so I’ll cut myself some slack). A little side note that I am starting to see new sides of me that I didn’t know existed. Exhibit A: in specialties, one day, Bella (the amazing Acting specialties teacher) was giving out directions. As Bella was giving out directions some of the teen leaders were asking questions while she was giving out directions and I didn’t think there was a real problem with that until Bella couldn’t talk for 5 seconds without a comment coming out of nowhere and for some reason that is a hot spot for me. Not them asking questions of course, but the fact that Bella couldn’t finish a thought without 2 minutes of side chatter or questions happening. Bottom line, I am trying to be a better leader with communication and stuff, but it is also a growing process of other cold spots that I didn’t realize that I have.