YORK HIGHlights
History teacher says
"the show must go on"
High school musical returns
with "Joseph" this spring
By Asyria Sweeney
HIGHlights staff
York High was forced to cut most of its sports and extra-curricular activities when the budget cuts were put into place two years ago. This left many talented students out in the cold, with no school plays or musicals available in which to express themselves and put their talents on display. There are a lot of kids, who don’t have a passion for sports and rather be on a stage showing their talents through acting, dancing, etc.
However, the school musical, and the performing arts program, is back this year, thanks to a diminutive AP history teacher with some theatrical background. Maggie Mafnas took her love for the arts and chose to direct a high school play earlier this school year when she produced Night of One Acts. The play was a success and the kids enjoyed themselves.
“I was proud of the kids that acted in the play because this was their first time on stage for most of them,” Mafnas said. “I was very impressed by their natural acting ability.”
Now she is working on a spring musical, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, that will be performed on two nights, March 28 and 29.
The success of the play was her motivation for doing the upcoming musical. She pulled some strings and talked to the people in the music department, and they agreed to help conduct the musical.
Mafnas dedicates so much of her time to direct kids because when she was growing up, theater was important to her.
“You can learn a lot in theater; it is important to have in a school because it gives kids the opportunity to express themselves,” she said.
Before the budget cuts eliminated the performing arts program, the position as director of the performing arts branch was a paid position. Every advisor position, along with the extra-curricular activity positions, were paid spots but after the cuts the district couldn’t afford to pay them all.
The high school faculty has also been very supportive of this musical. Other teachers are also assisting Mafnas. Tenth grade math teacher Nichole Liqouri, who started a dance club earlier this year, is choreographing the dances for the musical. Liqouri has had experience in dancing on various levels since the age of four. She dedicates her time to teach students to be passionate in the way they dance because it tells a story.
Choral instructor Michal Buchanan is giving vocal lessons to the cast. Buchanan has taught music and chorus in the district for find out how many years. She currently instructs all levels of chorus at the high school, as well as in the K-8 buildings. This will be her second musical at York High. She previously worked on Peter Pan. Jill Anders, in the ceramics and digital arts department, is helping out with the musical by making stage props.
Story originally ran February 2014
Rough winter?
It's not over yet
Don't be fooled by warm spell; March may have more snow
By Jacob Whitfield
HIGHlights staff
This winter, in case you hadn’t noticed, brought a pile of snow down upon us here in York City and the surrounding area.
With eight days of school canceled and countless two-hour delays, the year has been pretty disrupted, starting even before Christmas. A two-hour delay on St. Patrick's Day? Seriously? It's definitely been that kind of winter.
You may be wondering why we are getting all this snow, but "polar vortex" is the latest weather catch phrase and something weather watchers have grown to despise.
Vortex or not, our snow total so far has doubled the annual average of 25 inches. We’re at 51.4 inches of snow for York County right now, and our average temperatures, daily lows and highs, have been well below average over the winter months.
In fact, we haven’t had this much in this last decade. So, even those who don’t mind winter must be wondering: WHEN WILL THIS SNOW/WEATHER STOP? Well, depending on where you turn for your daily dose of weather, some forecasters are predicting more snow before March finally goes out like a lamb, like it’s supposed to .It is a proven, scientific fact, however, that spring will eventually be here. As the earth tilts toward the sun, the sun brings us more heat up here in the northern hemisphere, more sun, and eventually, beach weather.
But what about all those missed days? Don’t’ we have to make them up? And how disruptive were those delays and missed days through January and February?
According to assistant principal George Fitch, the student body adjusted well to the constant flux.
“The snow has mixed up the flow of school, but students that have been coming to school and have been resilient,” Fitch said, adding that he hasn’t really seen much difference in student behavior and attitudes despite being home every other day.
So, Mother Nature gave us a tease in early March, when temperatures eclipsed 60 degrees for three days straight. But the next day, we were back in the teens for the low and not above freezing for the high.So, when will it all end? Not quite yet, but April is coming.
Archives
Story originally ran spring 2014
Band becomes
Nashville Bearcats
for weekend of fun
By Nicole Harman
HIGHlights staff
The William Penn Music Department recently took a trip down south to Nashville, Tennessee to get a greater outlook on country music and life in Nashville.
On Wednesday night (April 9th) we had to be to school by 7:30 to check our bags and load the bus. Around 9 p.m. we started the 11-hour bus ride to Nashville. The Music Department staff chose Nashville because the distance was drivable by bus, it
it was affordable for students, and the itinerary was jam-packed full of good opportunities to maximize the fun. In the past, they have taken trips to New Orleans, Louisiana, Orlando, Florida, and Cleveland, Ohio.
Thursday was filled with adventures and new experiences for everyone. The first event of the day was a trip to The Country Music Hall of Fame, and that place was amazing. It had memorabilia from Toby Keith to Elvis to Rascal Flatts to Lee Greenwood. After about an hour and half in the Hall of Fame, we had to go outside and set up for our performance. The performance went really well, even though we really didn’t have an audience. After the performance we headed back into the Hall of Fame.
Later on in the day, we headed to the Hard Rock Café for lunch, which was good. If you’ve ever been in a HRC before, you know they’re all like mini-museums. But the Nashville edition of the chain restaurant featured more memorabilia from country artists than other styles of rock and pop.
We boarded the bus after lunch and had a guided tour around the city narrated by aspiring country artist Steven Whitson, of which there are many in Nashville, kind of like the number of aspiring actors guiding tours through Hollywood. On the tour we stopped at the centennial and bicentennial state parks. We also saw Vanderbilt University and Music Row, a world-famous area southwest of downtown Nashville that is home to many businesses involving Country, Gospel, and Contemporary Christian music industries.
Then it was back to the hotel to get ready for dinner at the famous Wildhorse Saloon, where we did a lot of dancing. We line danced, did the wobble, cupid shuffle, and some other dances. It was a lot of fun. Orchestra director Don Carn and band director Kevin Crawmer even danced! After the saloon it was back to the hotel and off to bed.
Friday came and we were off to the historic Ryman Auditorium for a tour. (By the way, that place is awesome!!!) Honky Tonk Row was after the Ryman, and we had free time to shop and walk around. Honky Tonk Row consists of souvenir shopping, restaurants, and, if you are of age, bars to drink. It also has places where you can see live performances, and most the time you can see street performers. From there it was back to the bus and off to lunch and The Hermitage, which is President Andrew Jackson’s home. His house is very nice and huge with very pretty flowers and landscaping surrounding the mansion. We headed to the Grand Ole Opry for a back stage tour, to perform, and to see the Friday night performance.
The backstage tour was awesome! Our performance was amazing. We played in front of people who were sitting in front of the opry. We played and sang songs from our concert literature.
The performance that we got to see at the Opry was amazing as well. Some of the performers were B.J. Thomas, who sang his famous “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on my Head,” Carlene Carter, step-daughter to Johnny Cash and a member of the famous Carter family, and many others.
Saturday came around faster than we thought. We drove about five hours east to Pigeon Forge, Tenn. to the WonderWorks, which is this cool science place! We were there for about three hours. There they had a spacewalk simulator, a mind game, and all kinds of cool things. After there we headed to Dolly Parton’s Dixie Stampede, where we ate dinner and watched a show. This place was really cool because you ate with your hands and drank out of mason jars like they did in the old western days. The messiest food we ate with our hands was chicken, which was a whole chicken that had to be torn apart before eating. After dinner, entertained and exhausted, we began the 11-hour drive back to York.
Submitted
No, it's not the Electric Slide, or Cha Cha Style. Band students are learning a new line dance, country style, at the famous Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, Tenn., during a recent trip.
Benefits of Saturday School
Saturday School is a good place to go when you need to get your grades right and need improvement in a subject.
When you go, you get a $5 McDonald’s gift card. Students in need can come to Saturday school to get their grades up.
Athletes can use the opportunity to keep their grades up in season and during the off-season, when some grades may tend to slip. They can get help in their classes and catch up to keep their GPA up for colleges. Getting recruited is a big deal to students and families that are less fortunate, so that would be great to give all the help we have to offer to these kinds of students. Saturday school is also a great opportunity because you can make up classes that you’ve failed in the past but need for graduation. That way you can keep your credits up and can graduate on time.
We’ve had a lot of students that didn’t graduate on time because of previous classes they failed or not enough credits. So we definitely want to improve on getting everyone to graduate on time with their correct classes. Especially in the society we live in today, this program is a great influence on our student body.
-James Way III