Shown are all of the middle school and high school performing arts staff who went on the New York City trip during fall break. At Radio City Music Hall with a Rockette are, from left, Shannon Rose, Kristin Bonner, Hope Bechtel, Mindy Coblentz and Rebecca Nguyen.

SYRACUSE — Perhaps a letter received recently from Clayton Hicks, a 2018 graduate of Wawasee High School, sums up the potential impact being involved in drama can have on a student. Hicks had not pursued drama or theater until he was a senior, but doing so made a significant difference in his overall education at Wawasee.

He submitted the letter by email to Kim Nguyen, WHS principal, who in turn forwarded the email to Kristin Bonner, an English teacher who directs the fall and spring plays at the high school.

“My experiences in drama taught me skills that have greatly enhanced my short time at Purdue,” Hicks said in the letter. “Without this program, I know I would not have achieved the success I have at Purdue.” He went on to say he feels the arts are undervalued in high school curriculums.

Bonner, who taught drama and theater for 10 years before leaving to raise children and then returning a couple of years ago, has some big dreams and goals she would like to accomplish at Wawasee. She gave a presentation to the school board at the Dec. 11 meeting and also recently took time to talk about those goals in more detail.

She has five goals: creation of a performing arts department with a unified vision from grades six to 12; a performing arts director to lead that vision; a facility (separate from the auditorium) for the community to enjoy; more students wearing a Wawasee Performing Arts jacket; and stipends to be evaluated.

“I’m a little bit of a dreamer, a planner,” Bonner said. “We have a lot of talent at this high school.”

Some changes have already been made, such as bringing back theater and speech classes, all of which are full now. Upgrades for the high school auditorium scheduled to be completed by Jan. 18 include a completely new stage, new HVAC, replacing sound panels, painting side rooms, deep cleaning the entire area and updating the sound system. New stage curtains are expected to be installed in March and the lighting, dating to the beginning of the school in the 1960s, will be replaced during the summer.

There was strong interest in having a stage crafting class, but it was later dropped due to a lack of funding for a teacher. “Indiana does not recognize theater as a CTE class,” Bonner said.

Speaking candidly, she said she feels the performing arts have been cut too often from curriculums and there have been negative consequences. “Students learn soft skills and interacting in performing arts classes,” she said, adding perhaps the emphasis on STEM and technology has “created students who don’t think outside the box anymore.”

Students also learn how to communicate more effectively, read situations better and think critically. They meet and get to know other students from different backgrounds and circumstances.

“Sometimes people don’t realize what it (performing arts) does for society,” she said.

Doing theater productions in the auditorium is obviously not an impossibility because they have been done for 50 years, but there are limitations. “The current facility is landlocked and we can’t really add on to it,” Bonner said.

The dressing rooms are small, a set for a play can only be built on the stage and the seats are arranged in a way “that you can’t really see over the person in front of you.”

A separate performing arts facility could be used heavily by the community, too, and rented out. It could also be used to promote performing arts school corporation wide and get, for example, the middle school students more involved.

Goals and dreams can result in a clear plan to follow, but Bonner also realizes a key factor in making it all happen — available funding. She is encouraged, though, by the support she has received from administrators and will continue to strive to turn those dreams and goals into reality.