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FFEeAaTt Uu rReEsS
December 17, 2025
KHS Choirs Sing To Spread Christmas Cheer By Sophia Barrios Staff Writer During the holiday season, the choir depart- and loves to challenge their singing abilities with a wide variety of musical repertoire. Choosing music for a choir to sing that is
Hillcrest tree farm as well as for several service clubs around town”. The Dickens Carolers also sang their car- oling songs at the Winter Concert to raise the Christ- mas spirit. The Choir Department here at KHS has been working very hard and nobody recognizes that more
interesting but also challenging can be very diffi- cult but Sawatzky has a specific method, “As I select music, I have a couple of competing factors in mind,
ment loves to show their love for the holidays by learn- ing beloved Christmas songs and singing for the whole town to enjoy. This year, choir director,
especially for the holiday season. Number one, is it appropriate for the students who are in front of me? What’s their skill level and how will they access the music and then second, how will our audience receive the music. As I’m planning a concert I want a wide range of genres and selections so that people are engaged through- out the duration of the concert”. Knowing this much thought goes into the concert, explains why it was such a fun experience. Finally, a look at where the choir plans to be in the future and Sawatzky already has an idea of where they’re headed next, “For the Tenor/bass choir and treble choir festival season looks pretty
Stephen Sawatzky decided to have a Winter Concert for all the choirs to show off their musical talent, “Each choir is doing an assortment of holiday themed music for our winter concert. The men’s choir is featuring a ballad and a contemporary piece that is fun and surprising. Treble choir is privileged to have included a number of dancers in the class, and so one of our songs will feature dance in addition to singing. Finally, we’re wrapping up our concert with a mass selection called “Let There Be Peace On Earth”. So the concert was full of holiday cheer. During the holiday season, the Jazz Choir spends their time
learning various holiday tunes to go to caroling gigs, dressed in nineteenth century “Charles Dickens” era attire. “We enjoyed starting the season off with the Julgrensfest Fest and the Kingsburg Christmas Tree Lighting! We are planning to make an appearance at
than Mr. Sawatzky, “This semester has been off to an incredible start! I couldn’t be prouder of our students and the dedication that they show for each rehearsal and each performance”. He cares a lot for his students
similar to our fall music. For our Jazz Choir, we are excited to dive back into competitive vocal jazz”. The choirs have a busy spring season ahead of them so be on the lookout for more music in the future.
Drama Class Performed Their Two One-Act Plays By Sophia Spate Head Production Editor On November 3, KHS’s drama class performed two one-act plays, which were “13 Ways to Screw Up Your College Interview” and “Booby Trap.” The first play, “13 Ways to Screw Up Your College Joshua Lewis, and Captain Gruss was played by Freshman Mace Bartel. Hernandez played the Lieutenant, and Fresh- man Eli Diaz played the Drill Instructor. Dix played the soldier’s mother, while Freshman Mark, and Freshman Sienna Nieves played Stephanie. After Amelia Rios was asked what she enjoyed most, she responded, “I enjoyed having the opportunity to watch one of [the plays] and play a main role in the other.” Rios also added her opinions about her role in the
Interview”, was a comedy act about two interviewers des- perately trying to find one more student to accept into their college. The interviewers, played by Seniors Amelia Rios and Madeline Dix, had to sit through multiple interviews with students who were wacky and weird. The first odd interviewee was Harold, played by Freshman Aubreyelle Rios. Senior Rayanna Gill played the next student, Kimberly, who called in a producer, played by Freshman Lyra Tang, and a cameraman, played by Freshman Matthew Cordova, who recorded them for a TV show. Many other interviewees followed them, and each got wilder than the last. Senior Andrea Morales played Maria, Freshman Luke Groft played Brett, Freshman Gianna Thornburg played Lily, Freshman Eli Gonzalez played Mel- vin, and Freshman Lilly Campos Alger played Kelly. Jeff was played by Freshman Jack Gomez, Eve was played by Freshman Rylee Hess, Elizabeth was played by Freshman Kaylaani Ramirez, Ben was played by Freshman Brenden Bruce, Jason was played by Freshman Sofia Her- nandez, Emily was played by Freshman Rebecca Cacace, and Jamie was played by Senior Madeline Timmers. Freshman McKenzy Navarro played Barnaby Lightsaber. The next act was “Booby Trap,” which was a dra- matic play where a soldier, played by Junior Kadan Hodson, sat on a tree stump that had a hidden land mine on it. While other people were trying to find a way to remove the mine, the soldier began to have flashbacks about what he had done before joining the army. Knowing that he might not make it out alive, the soldier also thought about the future and how his wife and son would react to his death. The soldier’s wife, Caitlyn, was played by Sopho- more Avalon McAnally. Major Harris was played by Senior
play. “I like how I’ve finally got a main role. I like how my character got to interact with half the cast,” she stated. When she was asked about what she found chal- lenging, Rios replied, “It was stressful not having a concrete personality for my character. But most of all, what I realized during the show was how much I had to improv when people forgot their lines. I’m even shocked with myself how much I was just able to roll with it in the moment.” Lewis also shared what he enjoyed about the plays. “I really enjoyed the scenes with my character (Major Harris in ‘Booby Trap’) along with the scenes featuring Lily & Ben (portrayed by Gianna Thornburg & Brendan Bruce respec- tively) in ‘13 Ways to Screw Up Your College Application’; They’re both wonderful people. I’m glad I got the opportuni- ty to work with all of these amazing actors,” he shared. After he was asked what he liked about the charac- ter he played, Lewis responded, “Regarding my portrayal of Major Harris in ‘Booby Trap’; I found the task of playing him to be a bit difficult, until I realized what Ed Monk, the author of ‘Booby Trap’, might’ve envisioned for this character; While he only appears in only one (and a half) scenes in the actual show, his role in the show is crucial, as he aids in setting up the tensions established by him & Peter Galen (portrayed by Kadan Hodson in our version) in the exposition.” He added, “He’s a bit similar to the blind prophet Tiresias from ‘The Odyssey’, in which he foreshadows the events of the climax (in the literary sense), much like the former does with Odysseus’ journey; As a fan of fictional sto- rytelling & literary archetypes, I enjoyed getting to analyze Harris as a sort of ‘harbinger of death’, if you will (which is fulfilled by the tragic end of the show).”
Scarlett Alston played Caitlyn’s mother. Senior Mia Gon- zalez played Sister Anne, and the Corporal was played by Freshman Colleen Ruiz. The professor was played by Fresh- man Jacob Soto. Senior Hayley Stout played Cathy, Gomez played Tom, Hess played Molly, Tang played Abby, Gonzalez played
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