Middle School

Greenhill h-graders celebrated the annual Greek Day on March 9 with games, a special lunch, and a play performed by students.

Students participated in the activities in various ways.

Some students performed the role of Greek gods and other characters through monologues, songs, and dances. Others set the scene for these actors through lights, sounds, backgrounds and more. Some designed posters, T-shirts, a playbill, and games inspired by the original Olympics from Ancient Greece. Fi h-graders described their enthusiasm for Greek Day.

“It’s a chance to work with other people,” said Layla Taiym, who performed as Gaia, goddess of life. “It’s not like schoolwork. It’s a fun thing we do.”

Fi h-grader Leo Garza, who played a Cyclops, memorized his monologue as part of his e orts to convincingly portray the character.

“You need to appear big,” Garza said. “Cyclopes work in forges, so they need to be strong to li hammers.”

Leading up to the performances, students practiced every B Day on the Middle School calendar under the direction of English teacher Natalie Nihill Ruberto ’00. Nihill played Persephone during the Greek Play of her h-grade year. She said she loved her experience and remembered it as the moment in which she realized how much she loved acting. Nihill oversaw this year’s Greek Day.

“I love how you get to see every kid shine in a way that normally you don’t see in the classroom,” Nihill said.

According to Nihill, Greek Day started sometime around 1990. English classes studied Greek mythology, and history classes studied Greek civilization. A theaterminded teacher named Janet Cashen wanted to combine the two, and so she started Greek Day. Cashen wrote most of the scripts for monologues, and those scripts are still used today, Nihill said. About 10 years ago, a new aspect of Greek Day was added: the Greek Olympics, a set of games created by students. e actors o en overshadow everyone else,” said Garza. “But none of this would be possible without the Olympic committee, the communications group, the lights and sound group, and everyone else who worked on Greek Day.”