Amanda Wright, Editor in Chief
As preparations are made for the upcoming Saunders Production: Shrek, students from around the school are putting all hands on deck to make sure that the play will be something that makes the Saunders students, faculty, and guardians proud. Different tech classes are beginning to chip in to guarantee the play will be ready for its production days of December 6-9.
One teacher who has been particularly helpful is Mr. Merklinger, as he encourages his woodworking students to take part in the Saunders community.
“This is the second [play] I have done with Saunders.” He explains about the difficult processes he has gone through when making sets in previous years for other schools. “I have taken students from three different high schools to South Secondary School to do their sets, but in that case, we had one day. ‘Here's your material’, ‘make it happen’, and you're gone again.”
However, this year, Mr. Merklinger says it is a much more relaxing experience. “Number one we had to start with pre-planning. We had to figure out when art was going to need the projects when they were going to start training on the stage and working our way back. Materials then had to be ordered based on the sets that they wanted in a very timely fashion and my students are working with, not only drama but art and other people within the school to make this happen.”
When asked about when the students have the time to achieve all of this, he explains that most of the work is done during class time. “Normally my first period or third period woodwork is working on it.”
Mr. Merklinger pointed out that his students are not only building but also designing the set for Shrek. “They had to measure the stage, they had to measure the materials that we are using so that everything would fit on the stage, so my design students are also taking part.”
As well as being helpful to drama students and teachers, the woodshop students are benefiting themselves while building these sets. “They are working for a customer that has very specific needs, very specific material … They have time management, customer management, and also waste management so that they get what they want built regardless of the problems that they are going to encounter so that it pleases the customer on time, on quality, on budget,” explains Mr. Merklinger.
The skills these woodshop students are gaining through Shrek will extend past the musical, past the classroom and past high school.