HIGH SCHOOL CAMPUS LIFE

A BIG SPLASH

Seniors Ella Whitehouse, Elyssa Smith, and Klaudia Blaszczyk, and alumnus Madeleine Chaffin, are winners of the “Splash Into Cash” annual bottled water label art contest sponsored by Riverside Public Utilities (RPU). Keep an eye out for their artwork on 15,000 RPU water bottles this year!

funding futures This September we hosted the second annual Royals Legacy Gala Financial Aid Fundraiser. Celebrating over 70 years of WCS history, alumni Krissy DiNicola (’10) and Alfredo Ramos (‘04), along with former parent, Alvin Davis, shared what WCS has meant in their lives and their children’s lives. Together, $60,000 was raised for the Royals Financial Aid Fund!

THEATER: “BAH! HUMBUG!”

The Drama Department has done it again in their outstanding performances of A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. Family and friends enjoyed the story of the mean-spirited Ebenezer Scrooge (played by junior Garrett Haun) as he was visited by the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future.

As one of the largest Fall season productions in WCS history, the cast and crew totaled 47 students ranging from grades 3-12. While many were returning to the stage, there were 17 students performing in a school drama for the first time. A few outstanding debuts came from senior Silas Sheffer (Scrooge’s nephew, Fred), senior Matthew Stoffel (Mr. Fezziwig), and bright-eyed 3 rd grader Aiden Kelley (Tiny Tim). Their remarkable performances were heartwarming and enlivening as they captured the heart of audience members. Mrs. Bickett also praises Garrett’s (Scrooge’s) performance saying, “He was in every single scene, never got a break, and he had an incredible amount of lines to memorize. Plus, he had to completely change character midway when Scrooge’s transformation took place. His ability to be a new and different Scrooge was incredible.”

08 | HIGH SCHOOL CAMPUS LIFE “This is an unusually high number of first-timers,” says WCS Drama Director, Teresa Bickett. “They did an amazing job,” she says.

Be sure to witness the magic as the Royals Pavilion transforms into an underwater grotto for the Spring play, The Little Mermaid, coming March 2020.

NATIONAL MERIT SEMIFINALIST

WCHS senior, Ella Whitehouse, has been chosen to be one of 16,000 semifinalists from 1.5 million applicants in the 2020 National Merit Scholarship Program! She is on track to earn one of the 7,600 scholarships worth more than $31 million.

PLAY BALL! On November 13, we celebrated three outstanding WCS athletes as they signed their National Letters of Intent! Ryleigh Carricaburu committed to play softball for University of Michigan (NCAA DI), Ashley Williams signed on to play soccer for Northwest Missouri State University (NCAA DII), and Brandi Meyer committed to play soccer for The Master’s University (NAIA). They have worked incredibly hard to achieve this goal while still excelling in the classroom!

GET THRIFTY WITH IT

Out with the old and… in with it too? In case you haven’t heard, thrifting is officially ‘in’. WCS senior, Taylor Huskey, founded “Thrift Cycle” to show her fellow Royals that shopping and up-cycling are not only fun, but good for the environment too! The new club hopes to encourage stewardship, creativity, and generosity.

making a royal sound

New to the Woodcrest Christian Band program in early 2019, the Royals Sound show band has been making a joyful noise and getting audiences on their feet at multiple performances throughout the year! Band Director, Ken Rasner says, “I want students to learn and feel different styles of music. Royals Sound gives us the opportunity to play a variety of types of music from jazz and rock to big band and everything in between.” The high school students must audition to get into Royals Sound; currently 28 students perform using an array of instruments including trumpets, trombones, french horns, timpani, saxophones, drums, bass guitar, and multiple percussion.

What makes Royals Sound not only fun to listen to, but also fun to watch, is the creative movements they add to their performances. Watching trumpet players raise and lower their instruments in sync as they’re playing, and seeing other members of the band sit, stand, and move across the stage adds an element of surprise and fun to each performance.

While most of the Royals Sound music is upbeat and energetic, there is one particular song they perform that has been especially moving. “We were asked to perform at The Grove Community Church,” says Ken, “and I realized how special it is that we are a local high school that can play Christian music. Other schools around here can’t do that. So I asked a friend who is a nationally-recognized composer and arranger to write us a medley of

popular Christian songs unique for our band. We played it at The Grove in front of nearly 5,000 people. When we finished with How Great Is Our God, I had tons of people coming up to me, with tears in their eyes, thanking me for that touching song. It is a very powerful, moving song,” says Ken.

Royals Sound band has three goals: 1) to honor God, 2) to have fun, and 3) to entertain the audience in such a way that they remember, long after the last note ends, how the music made them feel.

HIGH SCHOOL CAMPUS LIFE | 09 “Our joy is seeing these wonderful young people share the gift of their talent in an amazing way, for the purpose of honoring God. That will impact them for the rest of their lives.”