As the first week of school has started up, the students at Tower Hill embarked on a new journey of the school year, exploring their extracurricular activities while maintaining their academic progress. As the club fair was held at the end of September, many students signed up for clubs that they have never participated before, challenging themselves into new areas of their interests; at the same time, many upperclassmen took the stage to highlight their initiatives as club leaders.
“It was a brand new attempt for me”, Johnathan Zhang said as he talked about this new attempt to Model United Nations, “I didn’t know that’s how committees worked before”. Jonathan engaged in THS’s intramural conference in the beginning of October, which the Model UN leadership organized to prepare the new members for more competitive conferences that take place in New York City and D.C.
Jon Dong, the vice president of Model UN, explained, “We have much more experience from last year and we hope to continue our progress this year.” Jon also shared that Model UN is looking forward to expanding their presence in competition and number of club members, and as the collectivity of the leadership team, they envisioned to empower students to learn, connect, and grow beyond the classroom with diplomatic skills.
Not only was the academic club a success, students’ involvement in the fall play is surely a testament of their unwavering passion in performing arts. While the audience witnesses the graceful performances of the student actors and actresses, the stage crew works tirelessly behind the scene on set designing and lighting, constructing a production that enlightens the community.
Hannah Xue is a junior here at tower hill who joined in the fall play as a stage crew member. She has showcased her creativity and talents as she breathes her work in prop-making into life; her effort in teamwork is evident as she devoted hours in the DuPont theater.
“I’ve never done stage crew before, but the creation props were really fun and I enjoyed learning about backstage,” Hannah said.
As Hannah explores the unknown aspects of theater production, other people emphasize the positive atmosphere that she has brought to the team with her rapid learning skill and innovative problem-solving mindset. Hannah has greatly enhanced the dynamics of the group, undoubtedly, making her a valuable member within the theater community.
“Hannah [Xue] has learned so much in a short span of time. She’s able to bring new ideas to the table and better ways to approach the problem,” Sean Pedraza, a senior stage crew manager since freshman year, noted. “The smile that she brings is contagious and I’m glad that she became part of us.”
With a fresh start in this new school year, the impact of trying the areas outside our comfort zones is apparent, and fear should not hinder our exploration when we have the opportunities lie in front of us. Especially given that students have a lower cost with trials and errors, we shall take advantage of our privilege in our early youthhood.
As the former first lady of the U.S. once said, “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience… Do one thing that scares you everyday.”