Ralph Poteet High School - Treasure Chest Yearbook (Mesquite, TX)

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Ai the Christmas concert in the school cafeteria, Carissa Hogan and Melanie Mank tune their bass instruments. Tuning was an essential part of preparing a stringed instrument. Director Charles Sheets gives last minute instructions to Luke Carpenter and Tanya Mardis be- fore the concert begins. Listen- ing was also a good skill to have an an orchestral musician. ORCHESTRA: Row I Lukas Carpenler, Tawnya Mardis, Kevin Harris, Scoti Shirley, Brent Dow, Matthew Hanes, Gerald Miller. Mazen Bedri Row 2 Director Charles Sheets, Melanie Mank, Carisa Hogan. [he merit of practice is about to lecome apparent as Mazen ledri gets ready for the first strains of the Christmas concert. His instrument was the cello.

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ft takes a great deal of respon- sibility to take care of a stringed instrument properly. Scott Shir- ley always took care in casing and uncasing his violin. Practice til ifs perfect Practice makes perfect, it ' s often said. This old truth came to life with the orchestra. Practice was the main ingredient for its success. Ten students made up the orchestra, and each had a special place, whether it was playing the violin, viola, cello, or bass. Under the direction of Charles Sheets, all or- chestra members scored the highest of all other stu- dents from Mesquite schools after participating in the All Region Orches- tra on Nov. 25. Tryouts were scary at first, bass player Carisa Hogan said, but I finally calmed down and did my best. Practicing an instrument was not just sitting down and playing for an hour or two. Each of the students had to have the drive and discipline to work toward accomplishing their goals. Students not only had to practice during class time, fourth period, but the ma- jority of the practice had to take place at home. After I practiced my in- strument, I felt that I had learned all of my music better. Then I felt better about playing, bass play- er Melanie Mank said. After a delay because of a winter storm hitting the; weekend of Feb. 4, ox- chestra members partici- pated in the solo and en- semble contest on Feb. 25. Even though they par- ticipated against juniors- and seniors, they held their own. The extra time was to their advantage ... it gave them more time for prac- tice. {Eiicka Wells)

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ls the Pirates whiz by the oppo- sition for a first down, Stacie Mar- tinez shows her amazement. Cheer- leaders had to know the game of football to do their job well. J. V. brings spirit home School spirit and cheer- leading wasn ' t reserved for just school months and football season. During the summer, cheerleaders from all around the metroplex (including PHS) were com- peting at summer camp at the SMU campus, each squad showing all the spirit they could to prove they were the best while learning cheers to take back to their schools. The spirit stick, the most honorable achieve- ment in showing spirit was brought home by the jun- ior varsity cheerleaders. Sheila Parker said, This was a great honor for everyone. We really worked hard for this. To receive the spirit stick, every squad at sum- mer camp was expected to display the good spirit, friendliness, consideration by helping others, and most of all, each girl was expected to improve her own abilities as a cheer- leader. Kelli Riggle said, You would see squads just walking on the campus chanting cheers. Each group had to have tons of spirit. Having spirit and doing all of these other things for just one day was not the secret. The cheer- leaders had to show their enthusiasm throughout each day for the entire week. Finally the hard work and dedication to the team and to them- selves paid off in a very special way by receiv- ing the stick as an award. Leslie Watkins said, At first we did not real- ly know each other, but we grew close together just as a family would. (Encka Wells)