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10th Graders Embrace Creativity on a Trip to The Lion King
On Thursday, November 14, the entire 10th grade class took a bus down to Hartford, CT to attend a production of The Lion King at The Bushnell Performing Arts Center. This trip was made possible by the Bob '37 and Beth Campbell Endowment Fund for the Visual Arts and Lecture Series. From the organizers of the trip and faculty chaperones, to the coaches who allowed athletes to miss practice and the dining hall staff arranging snacks, it was truly a team effort from the VA community to get the class to this production.
In recent years, Vermont Academy has organized a trip each fall for the 9th grade class to see a show at the Weston Playhouse in Weston, VT (see this year’s trip to The Woman in Black). Due to the flooding in Vermont in the summer of 2023, the Class of 2027 were unable to make it to Weston during the fall of their freshman year. As a result, this was the first theater experience for many of VA’s 10th graders, aligning with the school introducing students to live performances as freshmen.
The Bushnell Performing Arts Center is a beautiful, roughly 3,000 seat theater. Taking them to a theater this size was a way to give the 10th graders a feeling of being special. Peter Ahlfeld, director of the Center for Learning and coordinator of the MAPS® program, math faculty, and 9th grade class dean expanded on this by saying, “We wanted our 10th graders to have the big trip in the fall this year. Oftentimes, schools are so focused on 9th graders being the new kids on the block and the juniors and seniors preparing for life after high school, that sophomores don’t get that kind of attention.”
The other aspect of taking the 10th grade to this production is that it exposes students to the possibilities of artistic creativity in the performing arts world from the costume design to the sets. The sets in The Lion King reflect the land and culture of Africa, and many of the costumes performers wore weren’t just ones of animals, but of traditional African people. Once VA students are back from Thanksgiving break, Lisa Eckhardt McNealus ’79, 10th grade advisor and visual arts chair, plans to have her advisory group create masks using pieces of nature around campus. The mask project is an artistic outlet to further connect students to the Vermont land and illustrates how visual art projects can add depth to performances.
The morning after the show, students were abuzz from seeing such a spectacle, with many faculty members reporting on their positive feedback. The VA community was thrilled that such a special outing came together the way it did.
Made possible by the Bob '37 and Beth Campbell Endowment Fund for the Visual Arts and Lecture Series.
Vermont Academy is a coed college preparatory boarding and day school in southern Vermont, serving grades 9-12 plus a postgraduate year.
