(MT. VERNON, N.Y. / The Journal) — It was a hit. A success celebrated by not only the talented participants, but the also by the faculty, parents, and students who came out to support them and such an amazing community. "All the acts were great! I loved D-Step," said Ms. Grosso, the current library and media specialist, as she was meeting some other colleagues who made it for the show. Her sentiment on the show was shared by many other spectators, through their excited cheers and comments. "It was amazing! So proud of the talents students and staff. A night of true entertainment," remarked Ms. Abbey, the school's Vice Principal for Student Affairs. Ms. Rhodes, the Humanities chairperson, took it to the next level and said, "Wonderful! I can't wait until next year!"
There were also other big highlights during the event. English teachers stole the show, literally! Mr. Middleton was the emcee, with a character trying to be a rapper-comedian keeping the show's continuity. But, of all of them, Ms. Fishlock was the night's hero. As one of the advisers for the Class of 2022, she had the idea for the show, organized the event, and even performed two acts. There was also Evelyn Sumpter, who had her first big performance on the talent show stage! And, a famous guest dropped by — Chemistry teacher Mr. Pufahl's son, Jackson.
Even being there was such a proud moment. To see the emotion across the audience was exhilarating. While it wasn't a packed house like other Winter or Spring Concerts, there still was support that came through. So, from this point of view, I'd like to say thank you. To the performers, volunteers, audience members, security, and custodians — you made it a night to remember. Next year will be even better!
The same will be true for the STEAM Expo, another MVSA tradition that (hopefully) will return. Mr. Woolley and Mr. Middleton, two of this year's main organizers who are both AVID teachers, were excited and proud of all the people involved. We discussed, though, a few things that may or may not change with next year. I noticed that main focus of this year's Expo was the AVID Elective projects that reanalyzed United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goal #9 to the communities of Mount Vernon. There were not too many students presenting at the Lehman College PCOPP (Pipeline to College Partnership Program), which left the students of the Project Lead The Way: Introduction to Engineering Design (PLTW-IED) to present on their own time. Sadly, none of these other exhibits were featured, but were probably a nice surprise for the many visitors we hosted. With Mr. Middleton, I pointed out that there would be no 8th graders next year, so there would be more participation as well as more space for the tri-fold boards and laptops.
Those two events were really great, and so, the administrators clamored for more. May 30th is the End-of-Year Awards Ceremony and June 13th is the STEAM Expo's second day — it is possibly an after-school event to help publicize MVSA to TV channels and local residents, and just to try to put us on the metaphorical map. In Ms. Rustin's words, "the district talks a lot about Thornton (the performing arts school) and MVHS (the career & technical school), we should be talked about a bit more!"
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