Katie Leavitt has had a thriving year. A junior, she’s been busy with Junior Transitions, prepping for the SATs, and finding time to catch up with friends. However, that hasn’t stopped her from adding participating in essay contests and musical theater productions to her list of extra-curricular activities.

Katie was one of nineteen finalists in Congressman Bernie Sanders’ annual State of the Union Essay Contest. She first learned about the essay contest when her teacher, Mr. Underwood, assigned it to her class as a homework assignment. The purpose of the essay was to write about world issues, and Katie chose a topic very prominent in many countries, including the United States. “I wrote about poverty,” Katie explained, “Every time I would visit cities, I’d see people living in such poverty. It made me very sad, and I wanted to make people aware of this issue.”

Set in the post-apocalyptic world of Panem, the movie The Hunger Games is a must see adaptation of the bestselling novel. The film is about the annual competition called the Hunger Games in which a boy and a girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen are chosen from each of the twelve districts to fight in a battle to the death as a reminder of an uprising 74 years prior.

The main character Katniss Everdeen, played by Jennifer Lawrence, takes part in the game after volunteering to take the place of her twelve year old sister. She is joined by Peeta Mellark, played by Josh Hutcherson and mentored by Haymitch Abernathy, the drunken winner of a previous game, portrayed fantastically by Woody Harrelson.

The movie does a great job of bringing to life the ridiculous and rather frightening garb of the Capitol. The people in the districts look like they are out of the Grapes of Wrath while the people in the Capitol are very Lady Gaga-esque.

It's opening night of the performance, and everyone is excited to get on stage. We gather in the auditorium at 3 P.M., and wait for Mrs. Worrell to give us our instructions. She talks with us for a while, giving notes, and after about half an hour or so she sets us to our various tasks.

Pre–show is a flurry of setting props, costumes, and light cues, fixing make–up, clouds of hairspray and white shoe polish, punctuated with shouted lines as we try to run scenes in our rush. As I leave the stage to quickly grab some food, I see Brittany Poljacik and Eli Grossman working on one of their many Kenneth Lee and Jack Jr. squabbles on the hall landing. Mrs. Levison, our costumer, piles my hair on top of my head into a bobby-pinned mass of grey curls, and Madi draws crows feet and smile lines on my face with eyeliner. By the time everyone has checked their props, donned their costumes, and has done their hair and make–up, it's a half hour before showtime.

The Jarvis Singers was a workshop that gave high school and middle school students the chance to work with a professional singer and teacher this winter.

Chorus teacher Ms. Robar met Jarvis Green when he moved to Barnard after finishing his tour with the musical Rent. He expressed his interest in going beyond performing, becoming a vocal teacher, and the WUHSMS Chorus was a perfect fit.

Ms. Robar worked with Green first with her chorus by having him come in and do a master class with the singers. The group liked him so much that a workshop seemed like an ideal way to get more middle and high school students involved in the program.

“Having a guest artist in the building generates a lot of buzz and is a unique and out of the classroom experience. Having Jarvis really adds variety to the program,” says Ms. Robar.