Students take on extra responsibilities in business department

For some kids, having a teacher in charge is hard enough, but juniors Sarah Udovich, Jean Ducimetiere, and sophomore Taylor Korb face the daily challenge of being a leader for students.

“It’s a weird job. You don’t want to be mean but sometimes you have to,” Ducimetiere said. Ducimetiere is one of the many managers for the CMR Company this year, and it’s a job that requires a lot of hard work.

“I wanted to try to handle more work for my own experience. It makes me feel that I can do good,” he said.

Managers are in charge of counting students absent, marking students tardy, and giving students permission to leave classes.

However, according to Ducimetiere, along with the hard work comes fun.

“The most fun part is helping people. I’ve usually needed help and now I’m in a spot where I can help,” he said. Ducimetiere said that all the managers take time to patrol around their classrooms and assist students with projects and other homework.

According to Ducimetiere, there are more benefits to being a manager than just being helpful.

“You’re your own person and your own teacher. You learn how to interact and act in real world situations,” he said.

Ducimetiere said one of the hardest parts about being a manager is having to take two classes at once. Other than the normal responsibilities of managing a business class, managers also are part of their own class.

“I’m working on a project about handling conflicts. We have to rent movies, answer questions, and take time outside of school to do this,” Ducimetiere said.

Sarah Udovich also recognizes the hard work it takes to be a manager. However, Udovich has bigger management plans than just her high school career.

“I’m either going to do fashion merchandising or fashion designing,” Udovich said. She says that both of these careers require her to have taken business classes in high school.

“I think a lot of kids like the business department because you go at your own pace and are independent. You have more responsibility,” she said. According to Udovich, business is becoming a bigger part of the world every day.

“Marketing and entrepreneurship is really huge. The business world is taking off,” she said.

Becoming a manager for the CMR Company, however, is not an easy job. Sophomore Tayler Korb is an example of the hard work and dedication it takes.

“I was inspired because I wanted the extra challenge and many teachers encouraged me to apply for the position,” Korb said.

A well constructed resume, teacher suggestion, and interviews with staff are required to attain the position of manager.

“The most challenging part of being a manager is finding the balance between working with my peers and being responsible for management duties,” Korb said.

Like Udovich, Korb plans to pursue a business career in her future, and says that management is one of the first steps to getting there. Management classes are valuable for students and are the future of CMR, she said.

“Student managers are important because it gives leadership opportunities for students and additional challenges which students are looking for.”

CMR community participates in controversial performance

SPRINGFIELD ORE., 1998 Freshman Kipland P. Kinkel of Thurstan High School opens fire on his classmates. One person is dead. 23 are wounded. Two bodies found at his home, said to be his parents.

But it is what happened after the shooting that motivated drama teacher Chris Evans to write a play called “American Roulette.”

He was watching the news and his son was standing in front of the television. He was at an angle where it looked like his son was at the school, in the shooting. This terrified Evans.

“I wanted the opportunity to write a show that portrayed what I was seeing,” Evans said. “I never wanted kids to go through that.”

“American Roulette,” which took the CMR stage March 17-19, is an original production about a young man, Robert Rimmer,  who is pushed to the limit. After being laughed at and humiliated by his peers for so long, he decides to do something about it, and his decision is to shoot them. More important, however, is the true message of hope and a sense of a community coming together after a tragedy revealed in the play.

“It’s rough material,” Evans said. It wasn’t difficult getting it approved by the school once the administration, SRO and some faculty sat in on a reading in December 2010.

“It’s given students a chance to try something they haven’t,” he said. “It is educationally different from other sorts of theatre.”

“American Roulette” was written in six months by Evans and a friend, Fredric Hendricks. It has been performed at the University of Montana, Missoula Sentinel High School, and Carroll College. Evans said that each performance gives him a chance to make the show better.

“We’ve adjusted and tweaked it,” he said. “Things are never finished; they are just a work in progress.”

GFPS parent Amy Rattray said she really enjoyed the show. However, it did make an emotional impact on her. Her son, who goes to North Middle School, had gotten bullied just days before the performance. An older boy had called him names and pushed his face in the snow. Rattray said she couldn’t imagine “how kids could do something like that.”

“He had a black eye,” she said. “Stuff like that just breaks a mother’s heart.” She wants parents to be aware that stuff like this really happens.

“Parents don’t want to believe it,” she said. “They put their blinders on.” She also wants kids to be more aware that stuff like this affects others.

Senior and cast member Evan Sherman played the part of Doug Bishop, a history teacher who walked in on the shooting and took the young boy down.

“It was very difficult to play,” Sherman said. “I have never done a serious piece and never experienced something like that.”

Sherman said he really got to know what the characters went through.

“It felt real. It felt like everyone had a good grasp on their character. That felt good,” he said.

Sherman not only participates in drama, but also is an avid member in CMR’s Key Club. He has participated in raising suicide awareness, and says the play really changed his perspective.

“I feel more towards people,” he said. “I want to make people happy, make friends, and just help people.” This is what he wanted others to get out of it as well.

“Hope,” he said. “It’s more about hope than anything. It brings a community and a school together for the future.” He hoped the audience thought it was appropriate for high school theatre, and  he wanted people to understand that “stuff like this really happens.”

Sherman really enjoyed working with his fellow cast and crew members. He said that it was “pretty good” working with them and “helping others with their lines.” He also explained that working with the same people two months straight, it got a little annoying, but he loved it anyway.

“Theatre is changing,” he said. “Get involved.”

Junior Breanna McCracken also believes that people need to be aware and kind to others.

“Everyone is capable of doing this,” she said. “But it can also be stopped. We need to take steps and try to be the best people we can.”

Contrary to Sherman’s character, McCracken said her character “wasn’t difficult” to play because she was “an honest character.” She played the part of Megan Jenkins, one of the students who perish in the play.

“[The play] forces you to look at all the characters without judgment,” she said. “You have to look at Robert as a person.” She explained that Robert and his story is easy for us to look at  and jump to conclusions.

“We all do whether we want to or not,” she said. “We need to be careful about how we influence people.”

McCracken said that she has had experiences, such as fights and arguments, with her own brother, and she is worried how her actions are really influencing him.

“Robert’s story began at home,” she said. “You have to look at the whole life picture, and [a person’s] mental well being.”

Evans hopes his production has done just that. He wrote the play because of his fear for his children’s safety.

“In order to take control of something you’re afraid of, you have to shine a light on it,” Evans said. “I’m not trying to save the world, just my little corner of it. If I can get one kid to talk to a counselor or one kid to say ‘Hi’ to another in the hallway, it changes lives.”