The performing arts department is where students with skills and finesse can refine their talent. It is where those who can’t shine on the field, can shine on stage. A stage where the power of words is recited through poetry, music sung to unite, actions are used to speak louder than words, and when instruments are used as an extension of our voices.

Amy Rost, one of the many teachers at North High School, recently began teaching the theatre arts classes for her first time this year. Last year, the theatre arts was going to be removed from the arts department due to budget cuts. At the time, students and community members petitioned but it was not enough, and the theatre arts was lost. Thankfully, Rost stepped up and took on the role of teaching it, and because of her, students were able to look forward to another year of the class.

“It was a minor of mine in college, I always enjoyed it, I enjoyed it as a high school student and I think its important to kind of have an avenue to express creativity and I think high school can get really monotonous and students need some sort of way to express themselves,” she said.

In the years prior, Mark Rixner was the representative and teacher of the theatre arts and many students looked up to him as a positive role model who helped drive them towards success. One could even say he was a “father” to them. Are the students ready to take on a different teacher?

As a former student of North herself, Rost knows the effects Rixner can have on students from a “very personal level,” she said. Not only that, she hopes to gain the same respect that a lot of the students had and also has intents to challenge them.

In the past, many students knew Rost as a math teacher when she formerly taught geometry. Now, she has to balance her time to teach 20th Century World History this year. Despite this, Rost loves the addition of teaching the theater arts class and how it challenges her.

“I do like that you can see kids differently like they’re up and at them and they get to share a lot more with you and you really get to form really strong bonds and see kids in a different light than you would in just a typical classroom,” She said.

As for the future, Rost has some of her own plans. In November, she and her students plan to perform their play called “Geezers” which takes set in a nursing home. Actors will poke jokes at old people and viewers will be able to watch how their lives unfold and how they ended up in a nursing home. Rost is also exited to start making musicals. She wants to incorporate music into the classes and to grow the musical numbers. To accomplish this, she hopes to work with the North choirs and to get kids comfortable to sing on stage.

Although it may not be set in stone, she hopes to one day take over entire theatre arts department. It may not be now but, “in the foreseeable future, it’d be great if I could teach only theater arts and really be able to focus all of my time in really growing the department,” she said.