by Richelle Kowalczyk, Drama Teacher
I have often joked about how I never stayed at any job for longer than two years because I would get bored. This was true until about 13 years ago. That is when I was hired to teach at Appleton Christian School. I am still not bored and see no sign of that happening in the future. I am blessed to be the Drama and Speech teacher for our middle school and I love what I do. Every year God has blessed me with wonderful students willing and wanting to learn, grow, and improve in their public speaking and performance skills. Every year it is still fresh and new to me and I never tire of teaching these skills to our students.
Did you know that public speaking is the number one fear of Americans, over spiders, heights, and even death? One of the things I tell my speech students every year is that unless you take a vow of silence, you will always need effective public skills no matter what career path you choose. When you are able to speak clearly, effectively, with volume and confidence, making eye contact with your audience, you will be successful. These are just a few things that we learn in Speech class. This class is a safe environment for those students who are afraid to speak in front of others. It is a group of their peers, often close friends, and they are graded on their own self-improvement, not how they measure up against someone else in the class. Students are strongly encouraged to reach their own personal best, not that of someone else. We start off with some fun getting to know you exercises, such as interviewing a friend and making a collage all about them, and before they know it, they are speaking in public. From there we work on volume, eye contact, rate, and expression. These students are able to end the year with intelligent, well-delivered speeches about current events of our time. It has given me such pleasure over all of these years to see these kids come out of their shells, conquer their fears, and deliver these speeches with confidence and pride! What a blessing.
I also get to teach what is, in my humble opinion, the most fun class there is, and that is Drama. This, to me, is not work! I have been involved in theatre myself for about 30 years, participating in over 60 shows as actor, director, props person, costumer, and so on. It is a passion of mine, to say the least. To be able to share this at ACS with these students over the last several years is an honor. I was never able to really find my niche in sports or other extra curricula’s at my school, but oh, when I stepped on stage for the first time! I was bitten! I am so thrilled to be able to offer this at our school. Depending on the year, we learn everything from improvisation to how to give a successful audition, to what goes into putting on a production. We also have a unit every year on the history of movies and television. It is important to stress to the students where the standards of these industries started and how the lack of standards today is not a necessary part of entertainment. It is possible to create, act, and entertain while maintaining a Christian walk. The students are also told to leave their logical brains at the door and use their imaginations. It is surprising how hard this is for some students, but it is needed.
We do two productions each school year, in the fall/winter and in spring, honestly working with very little. We are not like the public schools where there are budgets for elaborate sets or costumes. What we do have is wonderful parents who are willing to costume hunt, donate, and run lines with their kids (as well as running them to rehearsal), and we have an endless amount of talent in our kids.
We have done shows like Our Town, It’s a Wonderful Life, Once an Angel, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and Treasure Island. This spring we are presenting Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. It is so inspiring to watch the students free their minds and their creativity both in class and on the stage! After all, God is the creator of this creativity within our students! And to see some of these students find their niche for the first time is indescribable. My own son has been one of those students. He is just one of many who have gone on to do more above and beyond ACS, having been cast in a movie this last summer. Two of our students from the class of 2010 just finished a production at Little Chute High School of The Pink Panther Strikes Again and many have been accepted into the Renaissance School of the Arts. One student in particular stands out in my mind. One year I was doing a production of Thornton Wilder’s, Our Town, and I grabbed a young girl to play the part of the little sister. She, too, was bitten by the theatre bug and continued to act in several productions for me and then on into high school. She is now studying out at AMDA in New York City, acting, singing, dancing and auditioning, and soaking in Broadway. I wouldn’t be surprised to see her at the Oscar’s someday!
So many of our students have carried the skills and confidence they have learned with them long after they leave Drama and Speech class, and Appleton Christian School, making them more confident, expressive, successful and outgoing adults. I am constantly amazed at the kids that God has sent me year after year and the talent and commitment that I am blessed to work with. I believe that this program is a definite strong point at Appleton Christian School and to God goes all the glory! It has been my honor to serve Him in this capacity and I hope to do so for many more years to come!
