PAGE A4, KEIZERTIMES, APRIL 6, 2018
KeizerCommunity
Zombies invade
Whiteaker class
KEIZERTIMES.COM
KEIZERTIMES/Derek Wiley
McNary senior Bella Fox will compete in solo experienced acting at the State Thespian Festival
on April 5-7 in Salem.
McNary senior competing
in state theatre festival
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Last April, Bella Fox got
a chance to perform on the
Elsinore Theatre stage at the
State Thespian Festival as a
cast member of McNary’s
production of Defying Grav-
ity.
This year, she has a chance
to return as a solo performer.
Fox, a senior at McNary,
qualifi ed for state in solo
experienced acting at the
regional competition on
February 3 at South Eugene
High School.
“I have an audition slot
and then if I do well I get
to perform on the Elsinore
stage,” said Fox, who did two
contrasting monologues, one
a contemporary piece from
Butterfl ies Are Free and the
other as Calpurnia from Julius
Caesar, at regionals in front of
three different judges at three
separate times.
The qualifying top 10 per-
cent in each category from
the regionals audition for the
state showcase.
Fox used the competition
to help her get ready for col-
lege auditions at Southern
Oregon University in Ash-
land and Minnesota State
University, Mankato, where
she hopes to major in theatre.
“I didn’t expect that I was
going to go to state,” Fox
said. “I really just wanted to
go there for the feedback and
try to improve myself for the
auditions and really perfect
them”
When Fox accepted her
ribbon, she thought she was
named a regional fi nalist.
It wasn’t until fi ve minutes
later when she looked down
at the ribbon and saw it said,
“state qualifi er.”
“It meant so much,” Fox
said. “It was something that I
really wanted to get because
I’d gone to state last year for
Defying Gravity. (I thought)
if I can go in a group maybe
I can prove to myself that it
wasn’t just my cast and my-
self working towards one goal
but I can do it myself. I re-
ally strived to become part of
that.”
While Fox was the only
McNary student to qualify
for state, Lilla Seitz and In-
grid Dunn were regional
fi nalists in experienced duo
musical and Grace Condello
was a regional fi nalist for solo
experienced musical.
The State Thespian Fes-
tival, attended by over 1,000
theatre students and teachers
from around the state, is April
5-7 in Salem.
puzzle answers
By DEREK WILEY
Of the Keizertimes
Heather Woodward, lan-
guage arts teacher at White-
aker Middle School, was tired
of canned teenage debate
topics like, should kids be
able to use their cell phones
in class?
Instead she thought of
what her eighth graders could
argue about that would be in-
teresting and fun.
So for two weeks, Zom-
bies took over Woodward’s
classroom.
“Especially coming back
fresh from a new semester, I
wanted them to be excited,”
Woodward said. “I wanted
their buy-in more than any-
thing. It makes the rest of the
unit easier if they have an idea
of how to argue and they’re
used to talking to each other
about what they’re working
on.”
With surviving the zombie
apocalypse as their objective,
Woodward divided each of
her fi ve classes into teams of
fi ve students. The fi rst thing
she had the students do was
pack a backpack with 10
items from their home. Using
a Google earth map, groups
then had to decide where
they would stay and they had
to back up their claims with
supporting evidence to defeat
the zombies.
Since Whiteaker’s zombies
didn’t like water and couldn’t
swim, a popular destination
was downtown Salem by the
Willamette River. Other stu-
dents chose farms, Keizer Sta-
tion, Walmart and Costco.
They also watched videos,
made posters, read books and
played games.
“Kids compared it to the
Oregon Trail video game,”
Woodward said. “There was
a lot of critical thinking. We
Photo illustration
made up a list of zombie
characteristics and then they
had to fi nd ways to defeat
the zombies. We had a great
time with it. It was almost too
much fun. It was so loud in
here. They were super into it.
They had a market place day
where they could trade items
with other teams.”
Using online resources like
from the Center for Disease
Control, which uses the zom-
bie apocalypse to teach kids
how to prepare for disasters,
Woodward had enough ma-
terial for a month but decided
to end the zombie unit after
two weeks.
“We needed to restore a
little order,” Woodward said.
“The apocalypse, it turned
out, was chaotic.”
And when it became time
to move on to other issues
like the Civil Rights Move-
ment during Black History
Month or the school shoot-
ing in Parkland, Fla., students
were more engaged and ready
to talk.
“They were ready to ar-
gue,” Woodward said. “The
energy level was already high.
The class discussions were
that much deeper. They were
used to talking to each oth-
er and used to having ideas
where there was disagree-
ment and that was ok.”
Woodward said she will
defi nitely do the zombie until
against next year.
“I love getting feedback
from the kids,” Woodward
said. “They have the best
ideas. They’ll direct me for
next year. Their feedback will
be very valuable.”