Up in lights
BY ANNIE GJINECI AND SOPHIE OJDANIC
J.Hop Times Editors
Every school has a place like this. It’s an eerie, uncomfortable, Phantom of the Opera kind of place. At JHMS, that would be the catwalk in the auditorium. It’s located about 25 feet above the front of the stage, and it’s a narrow walkway where spotlights and other stage lights are suspended.
The journey to the catwalk is almost as interesting as the catwalk itself. Start with an unassuming door in the hallway of Building 2. It seems to be a door to a closet, but once you open it, you find a secret ladder inside a metal cage that goes straight up. It’s like something used by spies or assassins. Climbing the 19 steps feels dangerous, even though you’re surrounded by metal bars. You get the feeling that even though you have permission to be here, you shouldn’t be doing this.
And then you’re there.
Only you’re not alone. There are hundreds of students up there with you.
Signing your name and leaving a note in the catwalk are traditions at JHMS for the eighth-graders in tech class. Notes range from “Techies ’99,” to “I just got $20 today,” to “Love this school.” This has been going on since JHMS opened in 1999.
“When the kids sign their names it’s like they’re leaving a legacy, people will know they were part of a play and will always be part of the theater,” explained drama teacher Ms. Hosey.
Out of all of the little notes written all over the previously empty spaces on the catwalk, the one that sticks out the most is a tribute dedicated to a former student at JHMS, Dylan Crane. Dylan passed away from cancer in 2006, at the end of his eighth grade year.
Ms. Hosey, who was Dylan’s teacher, said that one day, Dylan told her he wasn’t feeling well. His leg was in pain. Dylan went home and never came back. The kids of Dylan’s eighth grade class put up a small tribute on the catwalk that’s still there after eight years.
Contributing a sentence or two to the catwalk is a special moment for drama students. It’s like carving your initials in a tree or signing a time capsule. “Signing the catwalk is a way for people to know who’s been here and who’s contributed to the JHMS drama department,” said eighth-grader Amari Shirley.
“It’s a way of leaving something behind.”
BY ANNIE GJINECI AND SOPHIE OJDANIC
J.Hop Times Editors
Every school has a place like this. It’s an eerie, uncomfortable, Phantom of the Opera kind of place. At JHMS, that would be the catwalk in the auditorium. It’s located about 25 feet above the front of the stage, and it’s a narrow walkway where spotlights and other stage lights are suspended.
The journey to the catwalk is almost as interesting as the catwalk itself. Start with an unassuming door in the hallway of Building 2. It seems to be a door to a closet, but once you open it, you find a secret ladder inside a metal cage that goes straight up. It’s like something used by spies or assassins. Climbing the 19 steps feels dangerous, even though you’re surrounded by metal bars. You get the feeling that even though you have permission to be here, you shouldn’t be doing this.
And then you’re there.
Only you’re not alone. There are hundreds of students up there with you.
Signing your name and leaving a note in the catwalk are traditions at JHMS for the eighth-graders in tech class. Notes range from “Techies ’99,” to “I just got $20 today,” to “Love this school.” This has been going on since JHMS opened in 1999.
“When the kids sign their names it’s like they’re leaving a legacy, people will know they were part of a play and will always be part of the theater,” explained drama teacher Ms. Hosey.
Out of all of the little notes written all over the previously empty spaces on the catwalk, the one that sticks out the most is a tribute dedicated to a former student at JHMS, Dylan Crane. Dylan passed away from cancer in 2006, at the end of his eighth grade year.
Ms. Hosey, who was Dylan’s teacher, said that one day, Dylan told her he wasn’t feeling well. His leg was in pain. Dylan went home and never came back. The kids of Dylan’s eighth grade class put up a small tribute on the catwalk that’s still there after eight years.
Contributing a sentence or two to the catwalk is a special moment for drama students. It’s like carving your initials in a tree or signing a time capsule. “Signing the catwalk is a way for people to know who’s been here and who’s contributed to the JHMS drama department,” said eighth-grader Amari Shirley.
“It’s a way of leaving something behind.”