The Buccaneer - Osseo Area Schools

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By Jennifer Sicheneder This year on January 23rd and February 1st at 7:30 pm., members of the Park Center Drama Department put on another great show. The show was “Kaleidoscope,” written by Ray Bradbury. The play is about seven astronauts who are on a spaceship that was hit by a meteor and the astronauts stranded in space. They contemplate their fate and talk about life and its purpose. The One Act Play is performed every year and this year it was student directed by senior Zach Miller. When asked what he hoped to bring to the production, Zach replied “Being their age, I am able to communicate with them in a way that is difficult for a teacher.” One Act It showed that his way of communicating with the cast worked quite well. After each run-through, the cast sat in a circle and Zach read off notes for the cast about things they needed to improve upon, such as more volume quality, how to say a certain line, or consistent mispronunciation. Then he would tell them how to work on the problem. Along with telling the cast what they could improve on, he also told the cast many things they were doing well. After his notes, the cast would get up and run through the show one more time. After the second runthrough, there would be visi- ble improvement throughout the cast, proving that Zach’s interaction with the cast was effective. The performance was on January 23rd and on February 1st at 7:30 PM and the show was free. They had one competition performance on January 24th where they received third place. In case you missed the show, here is a list of everyone involved. Cast Houston – Chris Sturdy Hollis – Alicia Eckman Stone – Brianna Brickweg Stimson – Nick Haug Applegate – Raven Johnson Lespere – Christian Thompson Barkley – Emily Nelson Woode – Anna-Louise Dessombes Child – Nikki Spencer Child – Abby Johnson Production Staff Director – Zach Miller Advisor – Heather Klug Technical Director – Rob Sturdy Producer – Lindy Edwards Support Staff Lead Lighting Technician – Sarah Dahl Assistant Lighting Technician – Bethany Cutler Lead Sound Technician – Chris Campbell Set Design – The Park Center Drama Techies Continued from page 1 He said that his host parents told him to pick out a pizza, but he had a hard time picking one because not only were there many different kinds of pizza, but many different brands as well. Apparently Germany doesn't have quite as much of an overwhelming selection as the U.S. Though there are differences between Germany and U.S. that might hinder other foreign exchange students, Laurin, like Anna, seems to be fitting in nicely. As he said himself, he has made more friends at Park Center than he ever did in his school back in Germany. Laurin is just another example of how our foreign exchange students are a great addition to our diverse student body. History Making Mock Trial Season By Annette Gabriel This was a excellent season for Park Center Mock Trial! The varsity team made it to Regional Semi-Finals for the first time in history. The conclusion of the varsity trial against Apple Valley High School was what propelled Park Center to the Regional Semi- Finals. When Lani Harms was giving her closing statement; the opposing team had given their closing speech and they had used a flipbook to illustrate their points. She was successful in disproving each and every one of their points. As she disproved them, she crossed them off the flip-book with a red marker. Their case was effectively ruined, and the opposing lead attorney cried. Park Center won that trial by 5 points. They sadly lost the Regional Semi-Finals trial to Breck. The varsity team captains were Lani Harms, Faruq Karim, and Kelsey LeRoy. The captains, in addition to Jordan Graen, were the lawyers. Acting as witnesses for the varsity Mock Trial team were Porter Robertson, Jordan Graen, Faruq Karim, Erik Beck, Becky Andreson, and Ashlee Kephart. The bailiff was Korena Vilavong. The Mock Trial team could not have gotten as far as they did without the assistance of their coaches Mr. Marshall Thompson and Ms. Kelli Jasper, who is a public defender for Ramsey County. The junior varsity team also had a good season and was barred from advancing to Regional Semi-Finals by a slim margin. This year the JV team included Mercedes McKay, Ashley Ochiaga, Christan Olsen, Jeanel Mouelle, and Ed Pavek as lawyers. There were also numerous witnesses including Bryn Tanner, Kentrel Davis, Ciera Colbert, Ashley Ochiaga and Christan Olsen. The Mock Trial team may be done trying their case, but that does not mean that they are done working. They continue to work on plans for next year’s season, and there will be a banquet to commemorate the season later this year. Page 2 The Buccaneer
By Jennifer Sicheneder Imagine 1600 students in Park Center Senior High who all have one thing in common: they are all involved in music. On February 4, 2008, there was such a day. That day is called the Northwest Suburban Conference Music Festival. While the majority of the school population had the day off, other students and teachers were arriving at Park Center at 7:00 AM. The day involved 1600 students and their teachers from ten different schools: Andover, Anoka, Blaine, Centennial, Champlin Park, Coon Rapids, Elk River, Maple Grove, Osseo, and Park Center. Each year the schools get together in a big meeting and discuss who is going to host the music event, and this year Park Center was chosen. The festival consists of each school’s choir, orchestra, band, and their directors putting on performances throughout the day. The groups have certain times and places to perform and the other schools can listen and evaluate them. The choirs performed in the South Gym, the bands performed in the North Gym, and the orchestras performed in the Auditorium. The exciting part for the performers is the Guest Clinicians. The clinicians listen to the performances and tell the performers what they did great and on what they could improve. There was one clinician for each group: Bruce Rogers, a director from Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California, was the clinician for the choir; Scott Jones, a band director at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, was the clinician for the band; and Kirk Moss, the orchestra conductor of the orchestra at Minnesota State Univer- NWSC Day of Fun sity-Moorhead, was the clinician for the orchestra. It was very exciting to hear each school perform excellent music and it was equally interesting to hear what the clinician had to say. The students learned quite a bit about music, tone quality, intonation, rhythm, balance, technique, interpretation, and other performance enhancers. The students from each of the ten schools had to evaluate three other ensembles as if the student themselves were the clinician, and they also had to evaluate their own performance. This was an assignment given to all students which was called the NWSC Listening/Evaluation Assignment. Although it might seem unnecessary to have homework on this day, it was appreciated because it helped students listen to the performance carefully and find out how difficult it can be to evaluate the concerts. The performances lasted from 8:00 AM to 2:30 PM, but there was even more excitement after that. This excitement was called the NWSC Grand Finale Concert. This concert was again divided into orchestra, choir, and band classes, but the directors from each school chose students from their classes to perform in the All- Conference Orchestra, Choir, or Band. On weekends in January and in February, the All-Conference members met at Park Center to rehearse for this Finale Concert. The guest clinicians from the day concerts became the conductors for the All-Conference performances. This was not easy because the music was very difficult. The conductors, although very picky, knew what they were talking about. Being a part of the All-Conference performance was an honor not only because of the performance, but the honor of being conducted by a college professor. They all seemed to know everything there was about music and interpretation and dynamics and basically everything needed to perform a piece successfully. After working very hard, it was time to put on their great concert. First the choir performed, conducted by Bruce Rogers. They sung five pieces: Laetatus Sum by J.M. Haydn, Lux Aurumque by Eric Whitacre, Festival Introit by Greg Knauf, Bright Morning Star arranged by Fred Squatrito, and Walkin’ Down That Glory Road by Mark Hayes. Next was the orchestra performance, directed by Kirk Moss. They played three pieces: Overture to Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi, Enigma Variations, IX, Nimrod by Edward Elgar, and Finlandia, Op. 26 by Jean Sibelius. Afterwards the band played, conducted by Scott Jones, and they played four pieces: Bushdance by Ralph Hultgren, Gandalf – The Lord of the Rings by Johan de Meij, Prelude and Fugue in d minor by J.S. Bach, transcribed by R.L. Moehlmann, and Shenandoah by Frank Ticheli. Finally, the choir director, Bruce Rogers, conducted the orchestra, band, and choir as they performed America, the Beautiful, which was arranged by Carmen Dragon and James D. Hainlen. With the orchestra and band playing with the choir singing the words everyone knows, it really showed that even though all ten schools in our conference compete, when it comes to music and this great festival we all can put aside our differences to put on a spectacular concert. Page 3 The Buccaneer
Page 1: Spring 2008 Issue 3 Buccaneer Staff
Page 5 and 6: Continued from previous page Upon s
Page 7 and 8: One of Park Center’s Most Caring

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