-Intro Night Celebrates 40 Years at Kean

Story by Vadal Eddy

Photos by Brianna Benjamin

The Ivanna Eudora Kean seniors hosted their annual Introductory Night on November 17, 2012 in the I.E.K.H.S. cafeteria.

“For our theme, we’re celebrating the forty previous classes that have graduated from Kean,” said Jason Young, the class vice president. The main colors were red, purple, and grey. The class song --a remake of “Can’t Help but Wait” by Trey Songz-- was sung by the whole class. The lyrics were written by Nikia Brooks.

The show began with a short film that foreshadowed what was yet to come. After the film, the seniors followed, by the class officers, walked out and showed off their tuxes and gowns. The males’ jackets and pants were grey (white for class officers) and each had the option of red or purple for the vest. The females could choose a red or purple dress.

After the Introduction of the seniors, there was a quick band selection from the Dynamic Devil Rays Jazz Band that introduced the Jackson 5 segment.

“This year’s Introductory Night will be a night that everyone will remember,” promised Ms. April Petrus, the director of the show. “There will be a mixture of different talent segments such as singing, dancing, acting, and much more that is sure to please the crowd.”

According to Ms. Petrus, “Rehearsals [were held] everyday after school until the night before the actually show.” The students were separated into different groups to practice their individual talent segments. Every student was asked to practice at least two hours everyday.

“The practices have had their ups and downs, but overall they have been very successful,” said the class president, J’Quahnia Tyson. Many students had problems attending practices because of many different after school activities such as football, Marching Band, and for some students, jobs. Practices were scheduled on Saturdays to help students who couldn’t make it during the week.

Introductory Night is a event that allows the senior class to introduce themselves to the community through a series of performances. The original idea behind it was to allow students to show the community what skills they had to offer to the community, but over the years they developed new ways of doing this.

“This night [was first] introduced to Ivanna Eudora Kean High School in 1972,” according to Ms. Phyllis Warner, the librarian, “but has been going on years before at Charlotte Amalie High School.”

The average student spends at least $150-200 dollars on this event. The money goes into the cost of dresses and tuxes and additional costumes. As rehearsals began, Kean Principal Dr. Sharon Ann McCollum announced,“If there are any students that can’t afford to be in Intro Night but want to participate, please let me know.”

The show started at 7 p.m. that evening and ended no later than 10 p.m. that night. Tickets were sold by the senior class; each student was given five tickets to sell for $20.