Winter Edition 22-23

Creative Ventures

STAGE (A. Botsford & D. Young - East & West)

In March, STAGE participated in the 2023 Massachusetts Educational Theatre Guild (METG) High School Festival! Each campus presented their one-act play at Bourne High School, along with other productions from Bourne, Martha’s Vineyard, Joseph Case High School. Wareham, Dennis-Yarmouth, and Nauset. Both shows put on a fantastic performance and we had a wonderful day celebrating theatre and meeting new people!

Several students were recognized for their outstanding acting and technical work, including Hannah Gent (East ‘23), Benjamin Tardiff (East ‘24), Robin Shea (East ‘25), Ainslee Frost (West ‘23), Quintin Martin (West ‘25), Sam Husted (West ‘23), Forrest Walker (West ‘25), and Emery Phillips (West ‘24). Sturgis West’s production of Sorry, Wrong Number was selected to move on to the semifinals round on March 18th!

B Art (X. Abel - East)

IB Art junior Paige Wielgus has volunteered her time with a non-profit called the Cape Cod Anti-Litter Coalition. The intention is to educate the public about not littering and how litter causes damage to our environment, aside from the disruptive and unkempt aesthetic value to our communities.

Here are some of her submissions:

East IB Art junior Sydney Faranetta is working with Child & Family Services, a mental health agency located in Hyannis, to create a mural representing the theme of "Vision of Hope". This organization provides outpatient and community-based services to children, adults, and families across Cape Cod. Art Project Hope is a program that consists of high school art students throughout Cape Cod who adopt a blank canvas and create their collective "vision of hope". The artwork is displayed at the Child & Family Services office in the "Hallway of Hope" for clients and sets the tone for mental health support.

Grades 9 and 10 Art (A. Forget - West)

Cape Cod Maritime Museum’s Student Art Exhibit will run from March 2023 through March 2024. The theme this year is “Surrounded by Water.” Various students from both grade levels submitted their work to the jury panel with the hopes to be featured in the exhibit. Wish them luck! (Students- Grade 9 -Grace Courchesne, Asha Patel, Tess Armstrong, Savannah Roy, Sarah Hall, Klause Porter and Sam Anderson. Grade 10 -Anais Rugh, Richard Hurley, Maxwell MacDonald, Brodie Gerlach, Adelia Anton, Qinton Martin, Nicole Rupic, Maria Herrera, Marina Johnson, Amy Hugh and Lizzie Foster.)

IB Theatre HL/SL2 - (A. Botsford - West)

Before diving into their last IB assessment, The IB Theatre Seniors at West have done a fun unit on the 16th Century Street Theatre - Commedia dell’Arte! They have been developing their stock characters through body movement and gesture work, as well as making plaster masks on each other’s faces and decorating them for final performances. We have had a blast!

Sturgis Music Society (Sheeler & Magnant - East & West)

Many exciting things happening in the music department, as usual! February brought another festival; the All Cape Festival, our local festival, which included the largest number of students Sturgis has ever had participate - 13! The students were seated first chair horn, cello, and violin in the orchestra - a great representation for our small school! Musical highlights included Sibelius’ “Finlandia” and Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

In addition, the students hosted a West Arts Night (Taylor Willman!) and a Valentine’s Day Open Mic (Alyssa Miceli) that fell wonderfully in the middle of Winter Spirit Week. It was great to see the IB Juniors stepping up to lead these events!

Perhaps the most exciting event, however, was our first (hopefully annual) IB music field trip to Boston! Students were very excited to see the Boston Symphony Orchestra open rehearsal, tour Berklee, explore Boston, take in live music at dinner, and watch Hamilton! The kids enjoyed it so much that they asked whether they could go to Boston every month….

Cinema Club (East - Z. McInerney)

Cinema club had a guest speaker right before February Break - Rowan Wood (East class of 2021). He came to talk to the club about movies and what it is like being a film major at Sarah Lawrence College. It was a lively discussion, this group is passionate about movies!

Sturgis Music Societies / STAGE (A. Botsford, J. Briggs-Magnant, N. Sheeler, & D. Young)

The East & West campus STAGE and Sturgis Music Society’s production of Little Shop of Horrors in December was a HUGE success, performing for almost sold out audiences and showcasing incredible talents from cast and crew. Over 85 students from both campuses were involved!

Sturgis Music Societies (N. Sheeler & J. Briggs-Magnant, East & West)

In December, Sturgis music students auditioned for the Massachusetts Music Educator Festivals in person for the first time in several years (due to the pandemic). These are quite competitive auditions - the kids had forgotten how stressful in-person auditions were. Nonetheless, Sturgis East had the most students accepted to these festivals in at least the last eight years! In addition, Sturgis students will be seated as first chair violin, cello and french horn for the All Cape festival - a very impressive showing for a school our size!

Sturgis Music Societies (N. Sheeler & J. Briggs-Magnant, East & West)

The music departments at East and West held their annual Winter Concerts at 529 Main Street on December 13th and 15th. There was a lot to celebrate, including the addition of a new combined ensemble ; the East/West Concert Band! The groups sound great and the kids had a lot of fun entertaining staff and students. Several 9/10 Chorus students at East remarked that it was the best school concert they have ever attended!

Watch clips: Strings A Cappella East Jazz Combo Concert Band

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