Finding your safety net in high school is one of the most important things for any high school student. I found mine in my schools theatre department. Sure I’ve felt that safe feeling on a stage before, but nothing in the world can replace the first time I walked onto the BCHS stage with the lights blinding me. Now most people probably would have closed their eyes or walked off stage in fear, but not me. I took a deep breath in preparation for the fear to sink in, but that never came. I felt as if the stage was where I was meant to be, as if I was home. The stage isn’t just a plat form to perform on, it’s the house that my second family lives in. The BCHS theatre department opened my eyes to a new world, a world I finally felt like I belonged.

So thank you BCHS Theatre Department for accepting little old me into your big bad world of paint, props, sets, lights, music, and love.

Thank you for showing me that the arts are still very important.

Thank you for teaching “I’m not alone in the universe”.

Thank you for showing me that you don’t have to act to make your mark on a show.

Thank you for teaching me that it’s okay to be different and to accept that I cannot change how others perceive me, but that’s okay.

Thank you for giving me a group of equally weird people who tend to live on the dramatic side of life.

Thank you for giving me a place where others will not judge you if you randomly burst out in song.

Thank you for teaching me how to use power tools.

Thank you for giving me the best group of people who will not get too mad when you awake them up at two in the morning on the bus to New York because I couldn’t stop laughing at YouTube videos.

Thank you for teaching me that with practice I can be an okay dancer.

Thank you for showing me what the true meaning of hell week is.

Thank you for teaching me that I can still function like a normal person on only a few hours of sleep.

Thank you for teaching me that hair spray can me an actor’s best friend.

Thank you for slowly teaching me that honey lemon water isn’t so bad after the fourth cup in one rehearsal.

Thank you for teaching me that friendship is a “perfect blendship.”

Thank you for Friday nights at Perkins.

Thank you for teaching me how to whisper. (Or at the very least talk to the stage microphones can’t pick up my voice)

Thank you for teaching me that stage make up is really hard to do, but rewarding when you finally do it correctly.

Thank you for giving me the chance to be a leader.

Thank you for helping me fight my fear of auditioning and showing me how much fun acting really is.

Thank you for teaching me that it’s okay to let my feelings out from time to time.

Thank you for teaching me how to hold in my tears during my last performance as a senior.

Thank you for teaching me to “seize the day”.

Thank you for giving me the best support group in the world.

Thank you for giving me my lifelong friends who I know I can still count on to this day.

Thank you for giving me a place I can still go to and feel at home.

Thank you for giving me that warm feeling I get when I’m on any stage.

Thank you for letting me show off my talents.

If it wasn’t for you, I would have been a miserable high school student who hated going to school. You made my high school years the best four years of my life. You opened up a magical world that I will always love, whether I’m back stage working as part of the crew, on stage acting, or in the audience. BCHS theatre department you will always have a special place in my heart and I cannot put into words how important you are to me, and many others like me. I pray that you will continue you to show the magic of preforming arts and give the sense of home to other students like me for many years to come.