STUDENT SHOWCASE
Fine Arts Students On the State-Wide Stage BY KARO BEAZLEY REESE, COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT INTERN
After a tough past two school years, rising above and watching a positive story about the resilience of teachers and their students is exactly what Texas public school leaders needed for inspiration for the 2021-2022 school year. In September, SHS and SMS fine arts collaborated to create that inspirational performance at the Texas Association of School Administrators’ fall conference. Superintendent Doug Williams is this year’s TASA President, which created an opportunity for SISD’s fine arts department to perform at their annual conference. “Our Sunnyvale fine arts students represented our school district in a powerful way at the conference,” Williams said. “Their message of We Will Rise resonated with the board members and school administrators at the convention and inspired each of them to continue to work for the students of their districts. I so appreciate our fine art directors and former trustee Kim Ingram for providing their expertise in helping make this production outstanding. It was a great day for Sunnyvale.” The 20-minute show was created, written and scored by former
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SISD trustee Kimberly Ingram. The performance featured students from grades 6-12 and was directed by SHS theatre teacher Daniel Gambill. The entire fine arts department — led by fine arts director Jacob Pipak — played essential roles in the production’s implementation. Three songs were performed: Seize the Day from the musical Newsies, The Beatles’ Blackbird (accompanied by senior Grant Conaway on guitar), and — for the finale — an original song written and produced by Ingram and local music producer and Sunnyvale resident Joe Milton, who is also the parent of a Sunnyvale fine arts alum. The story, called We Will Rise, demonstrated the struggle many school districts have faced since the pandemic began. By telling the stories of other school districts along with SISD’s, administrators were left with a message of hope in what has felt like a long period of uncertainty. “Our vision the entire time was presenting something that Mr. Williams and our school board (past and present) would be proud of,” Pipak said.
