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 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.

This performance was truly a team effort, with the SHS choir, the band and color guard, cheerleaders and theatre department, collaborating with the SMS choir to create a meaningful story. These groups rehearsed during SHS’s new Power Hour to perfect the performance.

“During the final rehearsals — as our students began to piece everything together — it really became a production,” Pipak said.

Watch the performance: https://www.tasa.tasb.org/program/live-performances.aspx

A Q&A with “We Will Rise” Composer

KIM INGRAM

Kim Ingram is a GMA Dove-nominated writer and composer, and owner of Open Heart Musicals. She served over 10 years on the SISD Board of Trustees, retiring in 2018, which positioned her uniquely to help with SISD’s “We Will Rise” performance.

WHY WAS IT IMPORTANT THAT THE SISD PERFORMANCE “WE WILL RISE” CONVEY A MESSAGE OF EMPATHY AND UNITY?

Schools have faced such huge challenges these past two years, and I felt strongly convicted that SISD should share a message of hope and unity. Collaboration brought the “We Will Rise” theme of hope and unity home. I created an initial script, incorporating ideas from alum Kaitlin Ingram and theatre teacher Daniel Gambill, who had the idea for the show’s symbol, the phoenix. Choir director Megan Senter chose a great opening song: Seize the Day. Senter and middle school choir teacher Kellan Hickman started rehearsing with their groups the first day of school. Band director Jacob Pipak and cheer sponsor Victoria Matthews figured out how to incorporate the drum line, instrument ensembles, color guard, and cheerleaders. SMS fine arts faculty members Cara Craggett, Rex Novak and Michael Nation were part of the production planning, as well.

WHAT WAS THE PROCESS OF CREATING THE ORIGINAL SONG, “WE WILL RISE”?

Kris Williams, SHS’s long-time English teacher and I met twice, talking about the challenges teachers and students have faced during Covid. I asked, “Can you find any blessings from this time?’” Kris said, “Sometimes difficulty can bring people closer. It’s like:

we’ve shared the dark, and now we see with different eyes.”

As soon as Kris said the last sentence, I knew that was the lyric. It has a good rhythm; it almost sings itself. The rest of the words came together so naturally for us after we had that one line. I gave a basic melody and chord chart to my long-time collaborator Joe Milton of JoMusik. Then Joe, a fellow SISD parent, worked his arranging and producing magic.