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Wednesday, March 12, 2008
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Cutting deep Potential cuts have parents, students reeling Staff Writers The recommendation by school officials Tuesday about what Brainerd High School athletics and activities may be cut next school year shocked some parents and students.
Shelly Thelen, Baxter, said, "I am just shocked. I have two children who are in three sports that are being cut. I don't know what I'll tell them when I get home."
Thelen said her children's morale will be down if their sports are cut.
Parent Kelly Gorvin of Baxter also was not pleased with the potential cuts. She has a 10th-grade daughter in soccer and hockey.
"I wasn't completely surprised with the cuts," Gorvin said. "It's heart-wrenching to see what the students had for activities and now what will be available in the future. Everything is disappearing."
Gorvin said her oldest daughter, who's in college, was in three sports, and that made her a more well-rounded student.
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Brainerd High School theater participant Kate Stevenson showed concern Tuesday night after hearing the Brainerd School District recommendation in regard to possible cuts in sports and activities during a listening session.Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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BHS junior Michael Ruen, who is in tennis, swimming and soccer, said he was surprised with the proposed cuts.
"It stinks," he said. "Knowing that I'll only have one sport my senior year. Tennis is the sport I'm in with all my friends and soccer is my main sport. I was planning to go to college in both sports."
Ruen's friend, BHS junior Josh Sachs, the captain of the swimming team, said he was relieved that swimming was not among the proposed cuts, but he was concerned for his friends whose sports could be cut. Sachs said a lot of students have worked hard their entire high school careers, and now in their senior year, they may not be able to compete in their sports.
About 20 theater students stood together as they listened to the list of activities that would remain next fall.
While school administrators proposed keeping the one-act-play, the theater students were disappointed that the three-act plays weren't spared. The longer fall and spring play productions serve as a breeding ground for these young actors as they perfect their craft. The one-act play allows only 20 students to participate in the annual competition, unlike the longer plays. The one-act play also is not presented to the community like the three-act plays.
"The community loves our plays," 10th-grader Nick Swenson said.
While the theater cuts won't affect BHS senior Kate Stevenson, she expressed concern that the younger theater students might not share her own high school theater experience - or opportunities. Stevenson received a $10,000 theater scholarship at Concordia College in Moorhead next fall, something she never would have received had she not been involved in theater at BHS for the last three years, she said.
Meagan Kedrowski, a Central Lakes College theater student, is directing the spring play, "The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940," which could be the last three-act play performance and is planned for the weekend of April 25. She was a student at Little Falls High School a few years ago, when that district's referendum failed and her theater program suffered under those cuts, so she said she understood what the BHS students were going through.
"We're hoping the community will be supportive of our show," Kedrowski said. "No matter what happens, we're not going to let the theater program die."
"Some of us really don't have anything else other than drama," 10th-grader Shastina Smith said. "We're all not in sports."
JENNIFER STOCKINGER may be reached at jennifer.stockinger@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5851.
JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.
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