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The Student News Site of McCallum High School

The Shield Online
The Student News Site of McCallum High School

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Fall dance concert blends tradition, innovation

MacJournalism Photo Team
October 20, 2017

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There was a pretty large crowd in the MAC for Thursday night’s dress rehearsal of the McCallum Youth Dance Company’s fall concert “TRADITIONS, innovating.” The dance company performed the entire concert of student-choreographed and faculty-choreographed pieces during the dress rehearsal. The eclectic collection of solo and ensemble pieces concludes with wordless narrative “Jus de Grenade,” choreographed by Rachael Murray. “Getting to play Mother Earth coming from the underground is unreal, and I never thought I would get to play a graceful yet sinister character,” senior Keanna Hayes said. “This piece is very beautiful, and it has different stories embedded into one.” To see the whole story unfold on stage and also the wide variety of pieces that precede it, you’ll have to check out the show at 7 p.m. Saturday or at 2 p.m. Sunday in the MAC. But if you can’t wait until then, this gallery of images from two intrepid MacJournalism photographers will have to do. Photos by Annabel and Dave Winter.

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NEW CHALLENGE, NEW TEAM MEMBERS: Every season, VEX creates a new game that robotics team members are faced with and have to build a robot to compete in. This year’s game forces students to create a robot that is able to stack rings onto mobile goals in order to score points. The change in games each season is something that robotics teacher Audrea Moyers appreciates. “One of the things that I like about VEX is that they have a new problem to solve every year,” she said. ¨Even though the equipment’s the same, they have to analyze the game, and they have to come up with solutions that are unique that year. They are using their knowledge from prior years, but they have to kind of redesign a problem.” As returning teams were faced a new game, some new teams and members had to adapt to a uncommon playing field and game. “Three of our four teams were competing for the first time this year, and they had very different experiences match to match, so I think they learned a lot,¨ she said. ¨It’s hard just watching a video online to know how it’s actually going to be in person, so they all learned a lot about what gameplay is like, how to work with an alliance partner [and] how to adapt during the day to changes.”
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WISHFUL WINDOW SHOPPING: Senior Mia Plemons observes the displays in the MAC during the 5x7 gallery night. Although not a member herself, Plemons feels a connection to the program through her friends and peers. “I have a lot of friends in art,” Plemons said. “And I’ve seen a lot of their work and it’s all really nice and beautiful, and I really enjoy seeing some of the nice pieces people have made.” Plemons didn’t manage to secure a piece of her own, but left impressed by all the ones she saw. “I didn’t [have a favorite], every piece of art I saw was just absolutely breathtaking,” Plemons said. “I think they should definitely do more things like this in the future. I think it’s definitely great for people in the art program to get their art out there and getting experience with making things that people buy.” Caption by Noah Braun. Photo by Lilah Lavigne.
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SPENDING THANKSGIVING IN NATURE: Junior Elizabeth Falkin feeds deer who wander around her grandfather’s lakehouse on Lake Buchanan during Thanksgiving break. Falkin travels to her lakehouse during long breaks and spent six days there during this break. One thing that makes Falkin’s lakehouse special for her is the ability to feed the deer. “There are a ton of deer up there, and we always keep tins of deer food so that we can feed them and see them more up close,” Falkin said. This trip also allowed Falkin the opportunity to see her cousins, who showed up to her family’s lakehouse on Thanksgiving without her knowing they were coming beforehand. “I never get to see my baby cousins, so I loved going to the beach with them and sitting by the fire at night,” Falkin said. “I love the fire because I feel like I don’t have to worry about anything else like school for just a little while.” Falkin has been going to the house for as long as she can remember and always enjoys the sense of serenity it brings. “It is an amazing, isolated place that allows me to calm down and spend time with the people I care about as well as with nature,” Falkin said. Caption by Maya Tackett. Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Falkin.
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VERTICAL VIRTUOSOS: The McCallum Orchestra performed at its Fall Vertical Team Concert on Wednesday afternoon. The concert featured performances from all ensembles, and the Lamar Middle School orchestra. The program began with a performance by the Lamar Middle School’s philharmonic orchestra and symphony orchestra, followed by Mac’s ninth-grade orchestra, Mac’s concert orchestra, Mac’s chamber orchestra, and ended with all the musicians coming on stage for a few final songs. A new member of the orchestra family, freshman violinist Sophia Davis, shared how the freshman orchestra has been preparing for this concert. “I’ve been practicing a lot, both outside of school and in class during third period,” she said. “It’s been an up-and-down roller coaster some days, but I feel that today’s performance went pretty well.” The orchestra will continue to work hard in preparation for future concerts and the upcoming UIL season. Caption by Wren Vanderford.
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AN ABUNDANCE OF OPPORTUNITIES: Senior Harper Freach, a cello player in the chamber orchestra, plays the first movement of “Triptyque” by Yasushi Akutagawa, which they began practicing in August. Freach said she was nervous going into the concert, having recently focused on other pieces. “I was feeling pretty nervous because we hadn't played it for a while because we had been focused on pieces for another concert, so everyone was a little rusty,” Freach said. After the performances, the fine arts majors separated into smaller groups so that the audience could interact with whatever fine arts they were most interested in learning about. Freach’s younger sister is interested in the dance department, so they went into that group. “We went to the dance building and got to watch a bunch of different types of solos of all different dance types to show what you could audition with for your audition and got to talk to the dance teachers,” Freach said. Freach said she had a very different experience with orchestra before high school. “I went to a private school, and we had a very different way of playing, we would have to audition for actual seatings and chairs,” Freach said. “It's different because now you walk into orchestra, and you don't know what to expect. Pringle will either have you play for the class or play with a different section; it's just a very broad range, and you never know what you're going to get. I like it because it tests my abilities and tells me what I need to work on and sometimes shows that I can pick up on things faster than I thought I would be able to.” Freach’s advice for any new Knights is to take advantage of as many opportunities as possible. “Any opportunity that you are presented with you should take it,” Freach said. “I couldn't do that my freshman year because we were still pretty shut down due to COVID. I was scared to try other things besides orchestra, but I regret not involving myself in other areas at McCallum where I could have possibly found my passion.” Caption by Shila Gill.
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AS EASY AS PB&J: At the blindfold sandwich-making station, senior Zane Wiggins and Kai Talebi attempt to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The activity allowed students to experience the mundane task without sight. Wiggins found that the simple activity turned into a challenge in almost every aspect of the process. "It was pretty rough," he said. "My bread wasn’t put together properly, and I put my jelly right next to my plate and not on the plate, it was really difficult. I was expecting it to be easier than it was cause I'd made sandwiches all my life, and I thought 'I can do this from muscle memory,' but it was a lot harder than I thought, and it makes you not take your sight for granted. Access to your sight makes things so much easier." Since students participating are used to having full sight, it was difficult to adapt to the sudden loss of a sense. "I had to kind of guess where things were and the plate was moving a lot," he said. "Every time I would reach for the plate it would be in a different location, so I kind of had to feel around for everything." Along with that, Wiggins had to work together with Talebi to communicate to communicate which ingredient he needed next. "I had to share the peanut butter and the jelly with Kai, so we had to coordinate with each other on who gets what first," he said. "I knew Kai was right next to me, but it was hard to know where her hands were. We had to find each other's arm and make our way up to pass the ingredients." Caption by Lillian Gray.
Learning to see without sight
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Fall dance concert blends tradition, innovation