By The Hampton Herald Staff
Hampton Elementary School’s Drama Club will perform “Beauty and the Beast Jr.” on Friday, March 25th, Saturday, March 26th and Friday, April 1st, and Saturday April 2nd. This is the first time that students at Hampton have been able to participate in a musical as an after-school club. There are 51 total cast and stage crew members; they are all from 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade. Mr. Willmore, a fifth-grade teacher is the director, Mrs. Barboza, another fifth- grade teacher is the choreographer, and Mrs. Fletcher, a Vocal Music teacher, is the music director. Mr. Willmore came up with the idea to do a musical because he had directed them before. “This is my third year at Hampton and I directed musicals at my old school,” said Mr. Willmore. “I performed in shows when I was in high school, and I wanted to bring that opportunity to Hampton students. This is the first year that we’ve been able to do the show since the shut down.” The teachers decided to do the “Beauty and the Beast Jr.” over the summer. They had one year to perform after they bought the rights. Auditions were held in October of 2021. Each student who auditioned had to sing a song and perform a monologue. Mr. Willmore was very impressed with the auditions. Shortly after auditions, casting was announced, and rehearsals began. Rehearsals are held every Tuesday and Thursday after school. Students warm up their voices, have a snack, practice blocking, and reading lines. Dress rehearsals begin this week. Students have been rehearsing scenes from the show and practicing choreography. “The choreography is spot on. They are practicing with their videos at home. We’re just working on some space issues right now with the props and things,” said Mrs. Barboza. In addition to Mr. Willmore, Mrs. Barboza, and Mrs. Fletcher, there are some other members of the Hampton school community who are helping with the show. Mrs. Towner, an art teacher, is helping with the sets, especially painting the backgrounds for the scenes. In addition, several other staff members also spent some time helping with sets. The tickets became available on Wednesday, March 16th. Homeroom teachers passed out papers for the tickets. People went online to order the tickets and then they brought the money to school. The tickets were five dollars per person. The ticket prices are to support next year's play. There are still tickets for the last two shows but others are sold out. The show begins at 7:00 P.M. in the school gym each night. It runs for about an hour with a fifteen minutes intermission in the middle of the show. Hampton students and staff are very excited to see the show this weekend. Teachers have the opportunity to view a dress rehearsal on Tuesday, March 22nd. Lots of people are already wondering what the show will be next year. “It’s been a big undertaking,” Mr. Willmore said. “We’ll take a big rest after this one and then start thinking about next year.”
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By The Hampton Herald Staff
Valerie Tutson, a storyteller, hosted a virtual assembly for Hampton students on Tuesday March 1st to celebrate Black History Month. Initially, the assembly was scheduled for February 28th but was postponed due to weather. Hampton students attended one of two sessions, and during each session, Ms. Tutson shared a different folktale. Each story had a lesson for the students to learn. During the folktales, she encouraged the students to participate with songs and responses. After Ms. Tutson finished telling the folktales, she shared a story of Zora Neale Hurston. She told the story of Zora’ childhood and her attempts to fly. Through her story-telling, Ms. Tutson was able to share some history and culture with Hampton students. By The Hampton Herald Staff
Hampton Elementary celebrated Read Across America from Monday, February 28th through Friday, March 4th to promote the importance of reading in education and to encourage students to read more. To start each morning, a Hampton teacher read a story over WHES, the morning announcements. Students were encouraged to dress according to a new theme each day. Students wore pajamas on Monday, dressed to travel on Tuesday, wore a grade color on Wednesday, dressed as a superhero on Thursday, and dressed as a favorite book character on Friday. Throughout the week, students came to school dressed as Draco Malfoy, the Mandalorian, Harry Potter, wolves, and Spiderman. According to Ducksters, Read Across America began in 1998 by the National Education Association as a special day to celebrate reading. They chose March 2nd, which is Dr. Seuss’s birthday, a famous children’s author. The celebration has moved away from just Dr. Seuss and towards celebrating all kinds of diverse books. by The Hampton Herald Staff
To celebrate Black History Month, our Hampton Herald staff members did some research about influential and important African Americans. Please read below: Bass Reeves Bass Reeves is one of the most inspirational black people ever. He wa a sheriff in Oklahoma and only killed nine people on the job. He caught hundreds of crooks in his career. He helped make the wild lands safer. Katherine Johnson Katherine Johnson was a calculator for NASA. She calculated paths for rockets for space missions. The work she did was important for human space flight. She also helped John Glenn be the first American to orbit earth, because of that she helped America win the space race. In 2015 President Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal Of Freedom for her work. You may be wondering how she got here. She was selected from three black students to integrate West Virginia's graduate schools. And by 13, she was attending high school. Henrietta Lacks Henrietta Lacks was born August 1, 1920 and died at the age of 31 due to her illness, cancer. Her cells helped create the polio vaccine and the covid-19 vaccine. They also took her cells to space to see what would happen to cells in zero gravity. Octavius V. Catto Another influential African American would be Octavius V. Catto. He was born in 1839 and died in 1871 when he was only 32 because he was shot and killed. In 2017 a statue was unveiled of him. He fought for an end to slavery and for civil rights for all. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Martin Luther King was born in Georgia in 1929, and at the time people were segregated and he was civil right worker. Martin was a good speaker. He won a big speech contest in high school. Martin Luther King was smart as well. In 1948, he became the minister. He also gave speeches and led marches. He did not want to have violence. He sometimes went to jail or faced violence for his ideas. In 1963 Martin gave his famous speech “I have a dream speech.” in Washington D.C. In 1964, Dr. King won the Nobel Peace Prize. Also, in 1963 the civil right act was passed when President Johnson signed the act of civil right. In 1968, Martin Luther King was shot in Memphis Tn, and they would still remember him by Martin Luther King Day. Bayard Rustin Bayard Rustin was born on March 17, 1912 in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He went to college at the City College of New York and became active in the Young Communists League because of its opposition to racial justice. Bayard Rustin was one of the main organizers for the March on Washington and he was a very important advisor for Martin Luther King Jr. He also became a main founder of the SCLC or the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Sadly, he died on August 24, 1987 in Manhattan, New York but he still remains a very important Black leader. |
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