On March 13th, 2020, all JCPS schools shut down due to COVID just six days after the first case was found in Jefferson County. “We were excited to have 'a few weeks' off. It was like a pre-break mood,” wrote Libby Mook, Brown School junior, in response to a survey I conducted on the topic. The shutdown happened when Mook was in 8th grade. “We had just come back from a KMEA concert the day before the shutdown. Most classes only had 5 to 7 kids in it and the whole orchestra was confused.” wrote Leyla Taylor, Brown School freshman. The last day had really low attendance and classes were being merged because teachers were not coming to school. Some students even stayed home that day or left early.

It was decided that after spring break students were to attend classes online in something called Non-Traditional Instruction (NTI) as long as school was closed. “The NTI plan allows students to stay engaged while they’re at home by completing lessons that they would normally be doing in the classroom, either online or through hard copies, and interacting with their teachers regularly," Superintendent Marty Pollio, said to WHAS 11. The end of NTI was set to end on April 20th, 2020 but the pandemic got progressively worse. JCPS ended up doing NTI till the end of the school year.

During the summer, life started to go back to normal. People started going out more and the covid numbers dropped because people could do activities outside. But as the school year came, JCPS decided to do NTI for the first 6 weeks of the year. The start of the year was delayed from August 12th to August 25th. NTI 2.0 was more organized than the first NTI. With more of a plan, students started attending classes more but some still didn’t enjoy it. When asked what the worst part of NTI was, Mook wrote “Isolation and online school”. Hina Apostel, a Brown School junior, wrote that the worst part was “Losing all connections with teachers and friends,” The first 6 weeks of the school year turned into just a year before the one-year mark of the shutdown. 

JCPS then started a hybrid model of school to get students back into the classroom. JCPS started phasing groups of students into school starting with elementary and ending with high school. Students attended school in person 2 days a week and did school online 3 days a week. Different schools had different plans for how students would get their work. Some students at Brown would go to school Monday & Tuesday, get a day off on Wednesday, and do virtual classes on Thursday & Friday. The hybrid model lasted for the rest of the school year. 

It has been shown that students' mental development became delayed because of the lack of in-person interactions they had with other people during the lockdown period. When students arrived back in school full time, it was seen that the past year and a half put students back around 2 years mentally and academically. “It definitely left an impression on me psychologically.” wrote Joshua Williams, a Brown School senior. “It is difficult talking to people and generally interacting with others,” wrote Mook. This school year has been the longest time students have stayed in school without going on NTI and it will continue to be a goal of JCPS to keep students in the classrooms.

On Wednesday, January 11th, at 9am, Brown’s drama class made its morning premiere with their 10-minute plays in the auditorium. Juniors Charlotte Meeley and Sophia Hyde were chosen to present their plays from the class.

Hyde explained that the inspiration for her play,  “Keeping Up With The Mayweathers” was from the Netflix original,  “Bridgerton”. She further expressed her interest in British dramas by stating, “they can have lines that would normally come across as very cringe-worthy, but the fact that they are said in a British accent makes them come across less so.” Her realization came from watching British actors saying their lines in an American accent as a challenge, and the comedy from these challenges brought her a comedic accent for her play. 

As far as bringing the play to life and directing, Hyde said it came very naturally to her for this production because this has been a continuing tradition in the curriculum for a while. “I had to go through a lot of trial and error to find a directing style that worked for me. It has been very difficult in the past and there are still challenges, I just know how to deal with them better.”

When asked if she could have changed anything about the process, she responded, “I wish I had more time to revise the scripts because some moments came out more awkward than I expected.”

Overall, when it came to producing the play, Hyde says her favorite part was finding the costumes. She explained that, for plays, doing sketches of the characters and their outfits is done to be more organized and to create a visual for the play. She explained how she would have to alter her vision when visiting a costume shop slightly, however, “I found two dresses in the color schemes that I wanted. I was so lucky and they both fit the actors perfectly.” She expressed enthusiasm for how well the garments fit the actors, and how it led to a better than expected outcome. Hyde also says that building the characters and fitting the actors in their costumes was a great bonding moment that brought the cast closer together. 

Her advice for upcoming playwrights is to know their story structure before writing the play because, she explains, “it's difficult to get through the beginning, or middle, and not see an end to the story.”

Hyde’s play wasn’t the only play on the stage. Charlotte Meeley’s “The Borrowers’ Market” was second to debut. Meeley says her inspiration came from “The Tale of Despereaux '', one of her favorite books growing up. “I think that mice with human-like societies and traits are so goofy and interesting.” 

Her role as director was a different experience than Hyde’s. She said “I have a very particular way I want things to look and sound, but I tried to loosen up and let my actors make it their own.” She expressed her role was to be more hands off and be there to clean up any messy blocking, and focus on creating the physical comedy. As far as costuming, she explained her detail orientedness taking over, “I have a very specific way I want things to look, so costuming and set was really hard. I ended up using a lot of my own stuff for costumes and set dressing." She had originally envisioned a felt material style for the costumes and set, but due to time constraints, it was an unfortunate compromise to the play not to have as detailed looks.

Overall, Meeley said she loved how the play came together, but had she been able to have more creative independence and to do it again, “I would have done so much more character work both in the script and with my actors.” Though the play was a great success, she mentioned that the more lines she heard aloud, the more she saw room for improvement. Unfortunately, again due to time constraints, she agreed not to lengthen workshopping the script  to leave time for the rehearsal process, but in the end, the play made a its debut.

When asked her advice to upcoming playwrights, she said, “Stand by what you’re saying! All art has a message and a meaning no matter how goofy it is. Just let it have the meaning it does and don’t judge yourself too harshly!”

The drama class isn’t the only way to be involved in theater at Brown. The drama club also produces the school plays during the fall and spring season. Terrilyn Fleming, the drama director at Brown, has more information about how to be involved, and how to purchase tickets to support theater peers in their productions.

We are only in the first month of the year and there have been more mass shootings than days in 2023. As of January 24th, there have been 39 mass shootings in America. On January 23rd, at least seven people were killed in 2 mass shootings in Half Moon Bay, California. And on that same day, an 11th person passed away as a result of a mass shooting that happened in Monterey Park, California. This puts all of America on their toes knowing that their neighborhood could be the next place hit with this kind of violence. 

Sarah-Lynn Carpenter, a sophomore at Manual High School, told us how she felt about the amount of mass shootings in the U.S. this year so far. “It’s horrible. It makes me feel incredibly disappointed about the lack of gun control in the United States,” she said in response to the amount of mass shootings in the U.S. this year so far. 

“It makes me feel unsafe,” Dakayla Rucker, a Brown School freshman, expressed. All of this violence has caused fear in a lot of Americans of all ages. According to a study done by Pew Research in 2018, 57% of teens said that they were worried about a shooting happening at their school with one in four of those students saying they were very worried. Rucker said that the fear of being involved in any kind of shooting has stopped her from going to social gatherings and has caused her to be on high alert. “When I’m out anywhere, I’m always looking around making sure there are no altercations or anything that has the shape of a gun in someone’s pockets,” Rucker explained.

Firearm injuries are now the leading cause of death among people younger than 24 in the U.S. according to a study done in December 2022 by the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics. There are about 393 million privately owned firearms in the US, according to an estimate by the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey. That’s about 120 guns for every 100 Americans. 

The worst part about this is the fact that if we were to put laws to reduce gun-related deaths we could see significant changes. In other countries, when gun laws were implemented, there was a significant change in the number of gun-related deaths. In Australia, less than 2 weeks after their worst mass shooting, the federal government implemented a program that banned rapid-fire rifles and shotguns. In the next 10 years, gun deaths fell by more than 50%. Britain tightened its gun laws and banned most private handgun ownership after a mass shooting that happened in 1996 and gun deaths in the country dropped by almost a quarter over 10 years. 

But America’s gun culture is unlike most other countries around the globe. “Many of these shootings were racially and culturally motivated to my knowledge. The United States is supposed to be United so why is it not?” Carpenter said. 

Because of the division in the country over this topic, especially in the government, it is very likely that nothing will happen to stop the deadly cycle of violence happening in the country. “I hope that gun control will become better over time, but I really don’t know.” Carpenter expressed. “If it hasn’t happened by now, it never will,” Rucker said. This is the position of a lot of Americans. There has been an increase in violence but there has been no change in the law or the way that the government approaches these situations.  When asked how they think these shootings can be prevented Rucker said, “Pat downs by security or metal detectors in places with lots of people.” Carpenter said, “Not allowing kids & teenagers access to guns which would be on the parents part. There should also be more restrictions on buying guns.”

The violence and the division in the government have for sure had an impact on how people view the U.S. and the “American Dream.” The “American Dream” is to let everyone have freedom and live in peace but with the shootings, we live in fear and restriction.” If there is no change in how the United States approaches the increase in violence, it will cause the American people to continue to live in fear of the worst.