Story and photos by Noelle Bryan ‘30
In our very own Freeman Arts Building, students participate in the Winter Term class, Design and Build Costumes. The chaotic yet productive class made up of 7th and 8th graders, partnering to get the show on the road while working on artistic creativity. This year, the winter musical is Lion King Jr., in which the costume class collaborates with the cast in order to create beautiful costumes that add the final touch on top of amazing acting. The class is divided into a process chain where one group works on masks made out of cardboard, another group sews, and a third group cuts fabric. This promotes and encourages people to work together, creating the bond and relationship of a successful Winter Term class.
Hailey Payne ‘30, mentioned how “day-to-day, we’re working with the director of the musical to help design costumes for each character.” She additionally mentioned that “this class is basically just creating the costumes and props for the musical and helping them not only just be acting but bring them to life.” As I was spectating, I noticed lots of sewing and even painting, which is surprising to me.
Middle School teacher, Joann Vogel, hopes that while teaching this class, “they learn new sewing skills. Another is that I hope they learn a little about what it’s like to work on a production team like this and operate with other groups who are working on the show, collaborating and problem solving as they’re creating costumes and planning and designing costumes.” As students mentioned, this class provides opportunities to discover new hobbies or even exercise current ones.
This class works on our LEAD motto. Neha Jagadish ‘30 describes how, as a class, they specifically work on “demonstrating collaboration and teamwork because you’re working on specific pieces with other people and you have to learn how to communicate with others and share thoughts about ideas.” It’s such a great place to learn how to collaborate, considering how there are people from 7th and 8th grade working together.
Many students mentioned that they would advise this class for all kinds of people with any amount of experience. For example, Hailey Payne ‘30 mentioned that she would “definitely recommend this class to people who like doing anything that involves creating and using your imagination or just sewing in general.”
This MICDS Winter Term class focused on gaining new skills and hobbies while pushing to improve the Middle school play. Students also focused on teamwork and collaboration while getting out of their comfort zone and partnering with each other to achieve a common goal. Whether they are sewing, cutting, or painting, this community has succeeded in making the performance even better!
