LEARNING AND PROGRESS
SHS
To Have Faith is to Have Wings BY KARO BEAZLEY REESE, COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT INTERN
SUNNYVALE HIGH SCHOOL
“To have faith is to have wings.” This phrase is more than dialogue in a play for the cast and crew of Vale Drama’s recent magical run of their One Act Play, Peter and The Starcatcher — which extended through the regional competition. The words became a rallying cry for the cast, crew and director Daniel Gambill throughout the entire One Act Play experience, which began with a scare that unfolded right before the district competition.
On March 6, Gambill experienced a family emergency just as his cast and crew prepared to compete at the district competition. His three-year-old son, Grant, was very ill. After rushing Grant to the hospital, doctors recognized that Grant — although very young — had a stroke as the result of a brain bleed. “The head of neurology made a preliminary prediction of seven days in ICU, a couple of weeks on the neurology floor, and a month or two of in-patient therapy/rehab,” Gambill said. “That’s a total of two and a half months of living in the hospital.” The OAP company worked through a scenario in which they would compete without their director. SMS counselor and former theater teacher Rae Harvill (who taught many of the students in the OAP company) was called in to accompany the team to their district competition.
8 | SUNNYVALE ISD HORIZONS