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An evening to recognize excellence...
Artists, musicians, singers, writers, craftsmen and performers gathered at Mountain Home High School to recognize the outstanding achievements of selected students during a yearly ceremony April 19.
Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the creative art awards show presented 19 awards to students representing the school's various clubs and fine arts programs in recognition of their ability to far exceed expectations in the fine arts.
Art has a significant meaning to many people, who express themselves through song, dance, prose and more, according to Sean Foster, who served as the evening's emcee. The students recognized last week worked long hours at school and at home to perfect their respective art forms, he said.
The evening's atmosphere started on the lively side as the high school's Encore Company presented a scene from their presentation of
"Little Shop of Horrors." The theater troupe's musical comes as they prepare for their upcoming performance of "SUPERHeROES: The Helios Affinity," which runs from May 12 to 14.
The production represents a play writing debut for high school theatrics teacher Taunya Page.
The mood of the evening changed to jubilation as teachers from each of the school's fine arts programs stepped on stage to announce their top students.
Page presented this year's theatre excellence awards to Morgan Hunt and Joey Vogl.
"When Morgan first came into my class as a freshman, I knew she would be a valuable part of the theatre program," Page said. "She was brave, taking risks and developed a significant presence on stage. Her dedication to our process over the years is undeniable as she spent so many hours developing characters, working on makeup design, sound design, competition pieces and being a positive role model for her peers in my classes."
Vogl, who served as the Encore Company's assistant director, has remained a dedicated part of the school's theatre community, Page said.
"His energy is so contagious... he always has time to make theatre a priority," she added. "His animation and ability to create characters is amazing. I know I can always expect fantastic things from him."
Page then honored Kylie Richardson as Mountain Home's theatre student of the year.
"Kylie's immersion in theatre has become such an inextricable part of her life as she gives everything to the theatre," Page said. "(She) has become a force to be reckoned with on stage, and I know she will be successful as she heads to college in the fall to follow her dreams pursuing a career in musical theatre."
Meanwhile, Katie Pedersen and Amy Alfredson took home this year's creative writing awards.
"Amy and Katie consistently go above and beyond the call of duty when pursuing the best expression of their creativity," said teacher Elena Tullman. "More importantly, they help others to do the same."
John Petti, who coaches the high school's Talkin' Tigers speech and debate team, presented the school's public speaking honors to Joseph Garrett and Lexi Ogarrd. During the school year, both students accomplished something no student in western Idaho has ever done -- winning 11 consecutive speech tournaments, Petti said.
They earned the distinction for their work in duo interpretation and demonstrated those acting skills as they performed excerpts from "The Glass Slipper." The modern day version of the classic Cinderella fairy tale was told from the perspective of her step sisters.
In addition to reenacting the dialog, they brought to life different voices and mannerisms for each of the eight total characters they represent on the stage. It took them about a month of repeated practice to perfect the presentation.
The toughest part of this speaking category is the rules prohibit the actors from having direct eye contact nor can they touch one another. That makes it tough since it's natural for people to have that type of contact, they said.
"No competitors in Idaho have ever dominated and event like Joe and Lexi have this year," said Petti, who added that both of them will make their first appearance at the National Individual Events Tournament of Champions in Denver this May. Then they will compete in the National Speech and Debate Association National Tournament the following month in Salt Lake City.
"The best part is they are both sophomores and will return for two more years of competition," Petti said.
Closing out the first half of this year's awards ceremony, members of the high school's jazz choir raised their voices in song. Breaking from tradition, Director Michael Stear said the choir will recognize its top performers during a separate awards celebration in coming weeks.
High school and director Jerry Tippets presented similar accolades to members of the high school's jazz ensemble. They included David Parrett and Vaughn Schroeder, who won this year's Woody Herman Jazz awards.
Tippets then recognized Matthew Nicora with the band's John Philips Sousa Award. The honor recognized the teen's lasting contributions to the high school band.
The evening's recognition moved on to other art mediums as Dan James recognized Anna Auger, Katie Pedersen, Mitchell Pedersen and Jayme Cowman as this year's graphic design award winners.
"These students displayed great work ethic, a high level of creativity and a vast array of critical thinking skills to apply the tools they learned to create their own unique graphic design projects within varying media formats," James said.
That same level of creativity was praised by Susan Martin, who presented the school's yearbook awards to co-editors Breanna Hatch and Kambri Smith. Both teens "created an exceptional book" and were the true example of teamwork, Martin said.
"It takes great editors to lead a staff of 15 people, get them trained in a short amount of time, teach them to do their best work and meet all their deadlines," Martin added. "But these two girls pulled it off and created a book that will, without a doubt, win state and national recognition."
Martin then presented Mercedes Martinez with this year's photography award.
"Mercedes is the student who steps up and helps me take care of the extra work we are assigned," Martin said. "She is also a very talented photographer who isn't afraid to try new styles or techniques."
The teen admitted that her interest in photography began in junior high school but didn't take root until she held her first camera during her freshman year at the high school. She credited the lessons her teacher taught to help perfect those talents.
"I love taking photos. It's one of my favorite things to do," the teen said.
Turning to other winners, Shelby Raber and Brandon Wussow earned the Glorious Goblet Award from teacher Jim Clark. He praised both students for their self motivation and meticulous attention to detail to turn clay into art.
"Shelby is a self-motivated, hard working, dedicated student that will put the time in to develop her work to make it exceptional," Clark said. "Shelby's detail and in-depth work on her projects is unmatched in quality."
Clark added that Wussow's sculpture work has become the teen's personal passion.
"Brandon is a student that when he gets his mind around an idea, he will stop at nothing to complete it and make sure it is at mastery level when finished," Clark added.
The art department continued to honor the high school's finest students after Brenda Raub presented awards to her advanced art students. Mario Garduno was named the artopian of the year while Kaitlin Bobinski earned the high school's artist of the year honor.
Garduno earned the award in recognition of his volunteer efforts as a member of the high school art club.
"He has committed himself to helping the after-school art enhancement program as well as the summer's art camp for the past couple of years because he believes it's important for kids of all ages to be taught art," Raub said.
Bobinski earned the distinction as the school's artist of the year because of her dedication to her art, Raub added.
"She takes risks, listens to criticism well and is constantly pushing herself to improve," Raub said.