What's Happened:
Boone Grove High School (BGHS) has always been a place in which students have many opportunities to discover something that they are passionate about. Recently, the BHGS Theatre Department has blown us all away with its incredible performance of its play, “Game of Tiaras”, which is a spin-off of the very popular television series “Game of Thrones.”
This one-act play wowed the entire BGHS community. The students have obviously put so much time and effort into this play and it truly showed on stage. Their hearts were in it.
The actors, sound booth crew, tech crew, set crew, and the director, Stacy Davis, all deserve a huge round of applause for all the work that they have done since August.
What's Coming Up:
BGHS obviously has recently put together some amazing things, but the fun is not over yet! Coming up is the BGHS Choir Department’s Madrigal Dinner. This performance includes a magical night of traditional Christmas carols, dancing, acting, and a lovely dinner.
Due to conflict with COVID-19 last year, the choir department was unable to have this performance to help keep everyone safe.
However, this year the school has figured out a way to keep the performers and guests safe and is going full speed ahead with the performance. The choir department’s hard work and dedication is evident throughout this process and the excitement is real. Students and the staff are thrilled for this upcoming event to lead us into winter break!
Staff Spotlight:
Members of the community are all incredible, and that also applies to Katherine Lawrence, a staff member that makes an obvious impact at BGHS. Lawrence is a social studies teacher but also puts on a retreat called Natural Helpers for the junior and senior students, which she has been sponsoring for five years.
Lawrence first fell in love with this retreat when she experienced it during her high school years at Valparaiso High School. To her surprise, when she joined the BGHS staff, the position opened up and she was asked to do it, almost as if it was fate. Since then, she has continued to do it ever since.
"I keep doing it because I love my students and because I believe that the magic that happens on this retreat can change lives," she said.
Lawrence loves this retreat because it allows students to interact with people they normally wouldn’t. She also loves getting to know retreatants, her Rainbow Staff, and watching them grow into better helpers for each other. She especially loves watching the Rainbow Staff shine in their leadership roles.
“I could really go on for days because what’s not to love about Natural Helpers," she said.
For the first time in almost two years, Lawrence was able to take a group of students on the retreat at the beginning of November 2021. This retreat takes 10 weeks of tedious planning to put on, and this year was even more difficult because she had to find a way to keep the students safe during the three-day retreat. With the help of her Rainbow Staff, a group of leaders for the retreat that are hand-selected by Lawrence herself, the trip was a success.
“Natural Helpers has the power to radically change the thinking of everyone that attends. It gives me an opportunity to know the battles my students are fighting so that I can be a more empathetic teacher and human. It is truly a humbling experience and I love seeing how it impacts each student that attends," she said.
Lawrence is definitely a teacher that puts her heart and soul into everything she does and it shows. Oftentimes, students find themselves going to her classroom to confide in her about things that are going on in their lives. They feel safe in her beautifully decorated classroom, and Lawrence never hesitates to lend a helping hand to anyone in need.
The impact that Lawrence makes on her students is indescribable. She always brings a smile to her students' and fellow staff members’ faces every single day. She makes the environment at BGHS so positive.
Lawrence does incredible things every day as a teacher and a leader of Natural Helpers, and she truly touches the hearts of everyone at BGHS. The community is honored to have Lawrence as part of it and is truly thankful for everything that she does.
Student Spotlight:
Leah Zairis is another person that makes a difference in the Boone Grove community. She is a senior at BGHS and is also the National Honors Society (NHS) president. Zairis has a natural ability for bettering the community, but this started long before she was elected NHS president, which allows her the opportunity to share her values of giving back.
As a child, she would always volunteer with her father to lend a helping hand to those in need. Now, she is in charge of a group of students at BGHS whose main goal is to make the community a little better by performing small helpful acts that make a large impact on the lives of others.
Once elected last May, Zairis immediately started to make changes to the program to help better it and allow it to serve a bigger purpose than it has in the past. So far this year, she has changed the way the meetings are run and even changed the overall approach of NHS. She has created groups of people that are in charge of certain aspects of everything NHS does, and she has even shown much promise about volunteer opportunities.
She always keeps her goals of giving back in mind with everything that she does. Zairis has big dreams for this program. She might just be one person, but she is making a difference by her commitment and dedication to not only the NHS program but the community as a whole.