Hazelwood Central High School - Torch Yearbook (Florissant, MO)

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Mid-winter dances attract elite few Stepping out casual As the music blared through the speakers, everything had been set for the dance. The Commons was cleared for ample space, the refreshments were ready, and the time spent plan- ning forthe night was about to pay off. What's wrong with this picture? Stu- dents were sadly lacking which was the case for both the Beach Party and January Jam dances. Over the last two years, low attendance has been a problem for both dances. The Beach Party was the first of the dances, held December 18. lt was sponsored by the Marching Band, which invested S3200 for the evening. , The sparseness ot the crowd did notvdampen 5 the spirits of those who t ' , did attend, though. There was plenty of. mu- sic, a limbo contest, and beach-ball volleyball to keep them entertained. that many people missed a good time. He ex- plained, lt was a lot of fun. l think a lot of people really missed out. Tami Harkin 1125 agreed and ques- tioned others' reasons for not going. Everyone says that there aren't enough dances at school, but then they have dances like this, and no one goes. The January Jam, held on January 22, the last day of the first semester, faced a similar situation. Less than 50 people turned out, possibly because of the dances reputation of appealing to Winter Dances in underclassmen. This reputation has cost Student Council, which sponsored the dance, much of the money they formerly received, as it served as a fund raiser. Low attendance was not the only thing that went wrong for the Jam. Stu- dent Council members had trouble with their refreshment systemf' Amy Amelotti 1125 recalled, The Coke ma- ' chine wouldn't put out any soda because it was too foamy. Lighter moments did occur, nonetheless. One such moment occurred when Mark Marik 1125 arrived. Mark was kid- napped by friends who claimed they were taking him out. As he walked with Sean Smith 1125 and John Fiiepl 1125 to, his car, he was iumpedl by about 10 people who. taped his legs, hand-. cuffed him, and put a pil-. lowcase over his head. John Ftiepl 1125 felt T0 relieve thirsty dancers, Amy He was then driven to, Amelotti1125 tries to get the soda ma- the dance and dropped chine to work properly. l l off. ln regard to this inci- dent, Mark claimed, The door deco- rations were very nice. That's really all l saw. l think the cops working security got a laugh when they saw the hand- cuffs. Despite the low attendance and faulty soda machines, the winter dances did provide a break from school tensions. Dennis Moore 1115, who worked at January Jam, stated, Even though there weren't a lot of people there, those who were had fun. 1Jennifer Maxfield5 How low can you go? Anne Ebinger 195 showS her limbo skills at the January Jam. Such conieSf were part of both winter dances. Playing out the theme of Beach Party, JU Linhardt 195 and Adam Zygmunt 1105 share a slf dance. Marching Band sponsored the tropical evel ing Dec. 18. 1Photo by Rob Preston5 Kickii studer was tl semes sa' ef'

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en Martinj e problem Jasement. Facing what lies ahead, Jonathan iRandy Beltj is taken away to jail by Officer Brophy lRyan Cookj and Officer Klein fRob Prestonj. Mr. Witherspoon lMark Smithl looks on. Catching her finance's eye, Elaine tSue Stein- metzj shows off her legs to Mortimer tDave Horst- mafll- Little do they realize the problems they will later encounter. Murder and laughs mix for Fall Play AfSeI'liC S G killer The lonely, elderly gentlemen enters the Brooklyn home expecting to rent a room. Two kind, warm-hearted old la- dies greet him, take him in, and offer him a glass of elderberry wine. Little does he realize that his drink is laced with arsenic! This was the setting of the fall play, Arsenic and Old Lace, a comedy by Joseph Kesselring. The show was pre- sented on the nights of November 19, 20, and 21. A total audience of 1,096 at- tended the show. Many of the cast and crew felt the show was a challenge. For example, Sue Stein- metz t11j, who por- trayed Elaine Harper, got to try acting. Sue explained, I had just been dancing and singing instead of say- s 9' ing lines in past shows. Student Director Becky Reid t12j also said that her exper- iences with the show were rewarding. 'Ar- senic' gave me a chance to work backstage. The satis- faction of knowing that l had a major part in producing the final outcome of the show was all the recognition I needed. The outcome was in the form of the story about Mortimer Brewster, a New York play critic. Brewster's life is not 'inormal to say the least. He comes home from work to find his aunts are poisoning people and his deranged brother Jonathan has come f-on, so you kind of think he's want- minutes SO we wOUldn't ed, huh? questions Lieutenant skip two pages, Karen Rooney iJohn Herbergerj as he tries to identify an unconscious Jonathan. home to stay. On top of this, his cousin Teddy thinks he's Teddy Roosevelt and he has recently become engaged to Elaine. As with other productions, Arsenic and Did Lace did have its tense mo- ments. David Horstman f12j, who played Mortimer, recalled closing night when Randy Belt i12j, who played Jonathan, missed being on stage for a cue. David explained, l looked at Tom Ouintas f9j and we al- most cried! Then Randy came running out and after the show he ex- plained to us that he 'felt that his character would have come out later. ' Antoinette Verhaeg f11j, who was cast as Abby Brewster, one of r Mortimer's aunts,-had a similar experience when Kelly Taylor i12j forgot to come onstage. She recalled, We had to im- provise for two or three Martin i12j and I made up an excuse about get- ting food in the kitchen. That's the funniest time l've ever had on stage. ln all cases, the cast persevered and kept the show moving. In summing things up, Mr. Pisar- kiewicz, the director, concluded, The cast and crew of the fall play proved once again that the main ingredient for success is determination, hard work, and dedication. You can't go wrong with a combination like that. Uenni Maxfieldj Fall Play

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S - 1 1 Kicking up their heels at the January Jam, Taking a dip, Steve Smith 1113 and Tami Harkin students parade around the dance floor. This 1123 clown around at the Beach Party. Ample dance 2 was the eighth year that the dance was held at space left plenty of room for such antics. 1Photo by I M semester break. Rob Preston3 Z ger 193 shows of 1. Such conteSTf ich Party, Juli 103 share a SIOV he tropical even 3n3 ,F :- Q x 1 have in ttliuelte lt 1the Janu- ary Jam3 started out really boring, but then, after dancing awhile, it got to be fun. , Even though there weren't that many peo- ple there, Connie 1Melton 123 and I made the best of lt and enjoyed our- selves and just being with each oth- er. -Rick Paruch 1113 lt was a great honor to be n a m e d ' T h e Great Kahuna' along with Julie Linhart 193, 'The Queen of the Sea' Actually, I hope everyone will eventually . forget about this! I never imagined that I would have to wear sunglasses like this 1at the Beach Party Dance.3 - Adam Zyg- munt 1103 4 1 fs! 3, fag, . , 0: W f f if ft 1, 177 ff' JW 4, sf ,Q fi .1 There was hardly any peo- ple there 1Janu- ary Jam3, but Katherine Evans 193 and l man- aged to have fun. We were just act- ing stupid! The whole thing was kind of stupid, actually! We walked to the dance from Katherine's house and it was really cold! Anissa Dick 193 Showing off their movies, John Pugh 1123 and Angie Schaeffer 1113 dance at the January Jam Angie and other Student Council members worked at the dance.