5/11 & 5/13 - Visiting My Old Teacher

Present day: Tony. DiNozzo. NCIS. Gosh I love that show. My brother's GF, decided to give it a chance, since we own six of seven seasons - and that's only because season 7 isn't available yet. Hee.



Okay, so today marks one year since I started this blog. Let's see if I can get back in to the swing of things!!

Previous post:
Planning on Catching Up

On 5/12: My favorite teacher in high school was my choral teacher. She was there for me all four years, and was the only teacher - only adult really - whom I felt I could tell anything. If one of her students needed to talk to her, I mean really needed to talk, she would not hesitate to put the entire class on hold just to do so. So awesome.

This past year was her last year at the high school. She'd decided she had enough, after 19 years, of the administration, and her husband was able to find a job back in her home state of North Carolina, so she felt it was time. After 19 years. So I felt obligated to go to her last choral concert. In the last 6 years since I've graduated, I'd only gone to 3 or 4... of the 12. I don't even think I realized time passed so quickly! I'd also only visited 2 or 3 times. So sad.

Anyhoo, here's some pictures of the concert:

This is Soave Cantando. The all girls advanced chorus. They're wearing gloves here because this is their dance piece. Every spring concert, each of the three advanced classes have a small dance piece to sing. When I say "dance", I don't mean anything too technical, basically it's swaying and turning to the music in unison.


And this is Singsation, the advanced mixed chorus. When I was in school, I loved chorus so much that sophomore and junior year, I was in Soave and Singsation, and senior year I was in Soave, Singsation, and regular mixed chorus. My senior year was awesome. lol.


The concert can get a little.... boring, at times. Some of the songs are meant to showcase the voices, but aren't as upbeat. I went with my friend Sara, and thank I'm glad I did, because it helped me through the slower parts.


She pointed out to me this Fire Exit sign. In the middle of the concert, she pointed and whispered something along the lines of, "They don't tell us WHERE to exit in case of a fire! We're all going to die here because they were too lazy to fill in the blank!! I DON'T WANT TO BURN!" This statement promptly had me in silent fits of giggles, and I had to take a picture to remember it.

Here we have a wall, with some hanging lamps. I felt the urge to take a pic because to me it feels... retro. But this auditorium was remodeled the year after I graduated, so it's not "old", (it wasn't like that when I was there) it's meant to look that way. Which... I found odd. Because there isn't anywhere else in the school that feels "retro" to me, so why on earth would they make the auditorium feel that way? Eh, maybe I just haven't been to many auditoriums, and this is actually the norm. *shrug*


At the end of the concert, Mrs. Nadel invites all Singsation alumni up on stage to sing our alma mater. So here's my pic of that. I'm standing in the soprano section, where I've always stood in chorus. Ahh, memories.


After the alma mater, the alumni is shooed off and the other choruses join Singsation to sing their end of the year song. This is a pic I took while they sang. It's of a random spot backstage. Fun stuff. A lot of the backstage area is littered with old props and graffiti, but not all of it is lit, so I wasn't able to take any other pics.

And that was the last choral concert I'll probably ever go to. Not that I wouldn't want to see a future one - I'm incredibly curious to see what the new teacher will be doing - it's just that I don't live in Aurora anymore, I never pass the school, so I wouldn't know when the concert was. Mrs. Nadel always sent reminder flyers to the alumni at least a month in advance to tell us when the concerts were. Somehow I doubt that tradition will hold on. The school chose not to hire a new teacher before Mrs. Nadel left. Heck, I don't even know if they've hired one yet, and it's already August. So Mrs. Nadel never got to speak to the new teacher, to tell them anything about the groups, or any traditions they might consider keeping. Granted, the accompanist, Mrs. Allen, might still be there next year, so there is a possibility that Mrs. Allen will be able to tell all, but when I spoke to her last, she wasn't sure if she still had a job as accompanist. And she said she wouldn't know for sure until the new teacher was hired.


Anyhoo... moving on. Two days after the concert, I went to visit one last time. It was... odd, to see Mrs. Nadel's side of her office so... empty.
Every inch of those walls, cork boards, and shelves used to be filled with pictures and posters and gifts from students. It was so sad to see!


To try and get an idea of the difference, this is Mrs. Allen's half of the office. Mrs. Nadel's was worse than this! Even her ceilings were covered!


Here's a fun game... "Where's noxy?" Ha. I left this picture extra big for you to try to find me. Mind you, even with it so big, it's still hard to see any details. So here's the cheat sheet:


Three of me! The one on the bottom left is the oldest pic... I think. I'm fairly certain it was my sophomore year photo. I could be wrong though, it might be my junior year... okay yeah no, upon further investigation, I have determined that the lower left one is my junior year, and therefore is not the oldest of the three, the bottom right one is of me and my then boyfriend, junior year, but taken at the Homecoming dance. The class pics were usually sometime after that. At least... I'm pretty sure that's how it went... Bah okay whatever, the two on the bottom are from junior year. lol. The one at the top is senior prom. I went with two friends, and the guy posed with me. :)


Here's a flashback I'd forgotten all about. 9/11/2002. There is an East Aurora High School, and a West Aurora High School. Obviously, we're rivals. On that day, both of the advanced mixed choruses met in downtown Aurora to sing. It was supposed to be a day of peace, to show that we're not always rivals. But mainly, I remember Mrs. Nadel pissed off. They told her that the event was casual, and both of the choirs would be singing. So we all went in our casual Singsation attire - Red Singsation polos, black pants, black shoes. West arrived in choir robes.

West performed on a concrete platform, (seen bottom left) East sang in a sparsely grassed corner behind a picnic table. (seen top left) Mrs. Nadel was outraged. It was apparent that even on this day of "peace" and "unity", Aurora still played favorites. And East was not theirs.


There I am. At least, I'm pretty sure that's me. lol.


Another flashback: as I mentioned above, advanced choirs performed a dance number at the spring concerts. I vividly remember Mrs. Nadel beating one thing in particular in to our brains over and over: LOOK HAPPY. I was in Soave for the spring concert when I was a freshman, and remember how she said we barely smiled, and that we should have been smiling the entire time. So, sophomore year, I wanted to help.

During the "dance" part of the concerts, Mrs. Nadel is not in the center of the stage. Back then, she would walk down to the orchestra pit, (which was empty for choral concerts) sit, and mirror the moves we were doing. Sophomore year, I made her a poster to hold up, hoping that by keeping it secret from everyone, they would be caught off guard, and would actually smile.
The attempt worked. We looked much happier that year than the previous year. And I was happy to help. Hee.

I made another poster junior year, with the idea that they'd be expecting the "Look happy" poster, so they needed another reason to smile, and what better than a "Soave Rules" poster to do it? Then senior year, I made one more, because I figured by now, they'd expect a new poster, and so to confirm their suspicions, would result in a smile. Mrs. Nadel kept the posters after I left.


Finally, the last few pictures:

There's me and Mrs. Nadel.



Me and Mrs. Allen.



And Mrs. Allen and Mrs. Nadel. It's so sad to know that they both won't be there next year. Mrs. Nadel moved away the day after her last day. And I don't know if Mrs. Allen will be there. I also don't know if the new teacher will keep the room the way it was.

What if the new teacher decides they don't want a purple room? If they repaint the purple, will they repaint the murals too? Will the room even feel the same? Sigh.

One last pic to show:
Every year, Mrs. Nadel gave an Outstanding Choral Student award. It always went to a senior, and usually to one who'd been with her all four years. I won my year. :) So I got this spiffy thinger, and my name is up on a plaque in her classroom... well, it was. I dunno if it still is. Maybe another tradition dead?