“With everything that we as a cast and crew have been through, I hope that they’ve learned that you can accomplish your goals with hard work and dedication. I know that when my goal as shooting for the moon (state) was missed I still landed among stars which were my cast and crew. I’m grateful for the opportunity for the time I got to spend with my wonderful cast and crew.

To my seniors: I love and will miss you dearly,” sponsor Sandra Trickett said as she reminisced about the past moments we’ve (One-Act) had together. After several months of hard work, emotional roller coasters, yelling, playing, arguing and getting closer, our journey with One-Act Play has come to a disappointing but simply happy ending.

We all worked very hard to meet our goals, and without expecting it, we met most of them. “Even though we didn’t advance to the regional level, I feel it was a blessing to at least advance to area! Many people didn’t think we were going to go past district and we proved them wrong and I feel that was such a great accomplishment not only for us but also representing our school,” Shamika Bradshaw said after the area competition.

Even though not many people supported us, we tried our hardest to give everything we had to the play, and as soon as we saw people believe in us, we started to believe in ourselves. Some people thought that we would not last very long, and we couldn’t advance, but we knew better than that and dedicated ourselves to the organization.

“Some people say that actors are fakes and pretenders, but they’re terribly mistaken. The thespians of La Vega High School’s One-Act Play prove scene after scene that we as actors don’t fake and pretend,” CJ Willis said about acting and society’s views.

We had about nine days to get ready for the area competition. We worked hard keeping in mind that we had made it this far and we can go further with more hard work. When we got to Cameron on April 8, we were sure we would advance, but as time dwindled, we became less sure about our spot with the advancing plays.

Our performance was good, but it did not meet our standards. We sat in the auditorium with overwhelming anticipation. We wanted so badly to advance and show everyone that we more than deserved to have our play advance all the way. The judge did not think that way though, and we made alternate play.

We went back home, not sure what to feel. Some of us were happy that we at least had made alternate instead of nothing, but some of us wanted to break down and cry. After arriving back to the school we unloaded everything from the contest and Miss Trickett talked to us for a moment.

We realized that no matter what that night had brought us, we were still a family. We may be the craziest, most dramatic and dysfunctional family to form at La Vega High School, but none the less, we are a family, and the seniors who will leave us this year are part of a legacy that is sure to carry on. We may not have made it to the next round, but we made it through another life lesson, and we all survived.

“This wasn’t a planned part of my year at all, but I’m so glad that I was a part of this play. One-Act was more than just a play though, it was a family. When we went to practice, we didn’t see it as practice--we saw it as getting together and having fun, but during that time we were also getting better at our jobs, and we knew what to expect out of everyone.

I wasn’t expecting for this to become such a big part of my life. Now that it is over, it feels like I am missing something, and I’m sure the rest of the family (One-Act) feels the same way," Caleb Hobbs said. "I love every single one of them, and I wouldn’t trade them for any other actors in the world.”

I would like to end this article with a “thank you” to Miss Trickett, Katie Ritcheson, Ira Rauls, and everyone else who has helped and supported us throughout this whole process. We more than appreciate everything you’ve done for us, and we want you to know that no matter how difficult we were sometimes, we never meant to drive you all crazy. We love you so much, and we are sorry if we took anything for granted.

Again, thank you very much, your cast--CJ Willis (Willum Cubbert), Garrett Nunley (Axel Hammond), Diamond Winburne (Tansy McGinnis), Caleb Hobbs (Rick Steadman/Kemp Hall/Red Graham), Warren Willis (Warnock Waldgrave), Jenn Ramirez (Clelia Waldgrave), Kenneth Coleman (Thor Waldgrave), and crew members Shamika Bradshaw, Erica Griggs, Vanessa Hernandez, Darius Kelley, Veronica Milburn, Hardee Minnitt, Uriah Robertson, and Charles Trickett II.