THE PONDEROSA POST What's Doin' Bruin?

F E B R U A R Y 2 0 2 0 V O L . 2 I S S U E 5

SPECIALANNOUNCEMENTS:

The annual Sadie HawkinsDance is coming up nextmonth! Be on the look out forticket sales! Yearbooks are almost soldout! Make sure to get yourstoday before it's too late!

By Kaylee Young

The First Annual "Pondo's GotTalent"

On January 31st, a dark campus is illuminated by Ponderosa’s Theater,where 16 beyond talented singers, musicians, and one dancer gathered todo what could’ve only been done by them. The theater was packed withfamilies, friends, and three judges all anxious to hear the talent this schoolso rightfully has. As this show began, the only thing more harmoniousthan the applause was the performers themselves. The vocal performersstunned the audience, from musical theater to melancholy love songs toremixes to a self-composed piece. Beginning with “i love you” by BillieEilish, Serenity Schuller and Lindsey Levine serenaded (cont.)

Photo by Karly Emlay

the audience with the teary romantic ballad. Ifyou closed your eyes during Jeffrey Shore’sperformance, you could've sworn that “TheNightmare Before Christmas” was being played.Raliegh Young sang a song he wrote andcomposed himself. Whitney Houston’s “IWanna Dance With Somebody” was done greatjustice by Courtney Baker. Followed by HunterMcGee giving an unimaginable performance ofEd Sheeran’s “Tenerife Sea'' was a reimaginingof Haley Reinart’s Seven Nation Armyunforgettably sung by Delaney Whitson. RachelMaloney gave a Tony-worthy belting of theBroadway classic “Dyin’ Ain't So Bad.” JesseCrone gave a professional quality “Bloodwood,”and Ori and Sadie Alger gave a better-than-original presentation of “Viva La Vida.” Everyperformance was dazzling,showing the truehardwork and talent of Pondo’s vocalists. Two impressive pianists could had givenMozart a run for his money. An original pieceby Karim Abou-Seido combined more than teniconic songs into one unforgettableperformance. Meghan Whitson had Yiruma’s“River Flows In You” beautifully played into thetheatre, which could’ve convinced an untrainedear that they had entered a concert you wouldhave to pay for. On a unique scale, one dancermade her way onto the stage, proving you don’tneed words or notes to make a performance.Sidney Orr slayed Alex Calise’s “Cry” in amodern ballet rendition. In the friendly competition, it was almostimpossible to guess who would win. The judgeshad a hard choice, and it was anyone’s game,but the dazzling performance by DelaneyRobinson and equally mesmerizing ballad sungby Torie and Sadie went home with the honor.The high quality of the first ever “Pondo’s GotTalent” was indescribable. This will,undoubtedly, be a tradition allowing all presentand future talents to be showcased.

This past week of February 10th was RandomActs of Kindness week. Bruins all over thecampus were seen spreading love and care tothe peers around them. Ponderosa Floral soldbeautiful carnations, or “Friendship Flowers”, atlunch so students could give their peerssomething to lighten their day. Students wereencouraged to give compliments to peoplearound them or high fives to spread positivity.The purpose of Random Acts of Kindness is tospread hope to those around, but it is importantto also reflect that love onto oneself. Studentsshould remember to be kind not only to othersbut to forgive themselves when faced bymistakes. The values of Ponderosa bruins intheir kindness to themselves helps reflect suchonto fellow students. Remember to be aware ofthe people around you and aware of oneself.The values of Random Acts of Kindness isn’t justfor a week, spread love whenever you can andas often as possible. Be good and do goodPonderosa!

Random Acts ofKindness Week: anOverview

By Julia Kennedy

Art by Camille Hoover

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Return of the BlackLight RallyBy Analeez Niles

On Friday February 8th, students attended theannual blacklight rally. From Tug-A-War to bumperball soccer, students had fun not only participatingin the games but also watching them. The theme,Star Wars, was truly a hit as many people joined inby wearing white and bringing light neon colors tolight up the gym. Wearing these spirited colors alsohelped them earn their grade level more spiritpoints! Congratulations to the Juniors for winninganother rally, and good job to leadership for puttingon yet another successful rally!

By Kaylee Young

Booked and Busy:Ponderosa Drama

Ponderosa’s drama programme is known for itsperformances and performers, who always giveheartbreaking or heart-lightening showcases.Just this month, they had a preview night for theLenaea Theatre Festival called “Winter Shorts.”The show had monologues, scenes, and two (yes,two) amazing one acts. Yet again, they provedthat all around Pondo lies hardworking andtalented students. This month, they will presentImprov Night. (cont.)

This $3 event revolves around the timelesscompetition and laughing until you cry sport ofimprov, done by the carefully chosenstudents of Pondo’s own on February 13th.The spring musical, Into The Woods, opensApril 23rd and will continue for two weeks.It’s packed with powerhouse actors who will,as they always do, make for a night ofentertainment. Finally, May will bring DramaNight, though currently the date isannounced, keep your eyes open for thenight that is widely known for it’s light andtalented humorous interpretations.

Star Wars: The Rise OfSkywalker ReviewBy Natalie Salter

How do you end a cultural phenomenon of aseries, be it temporarily? How do you provide asatisfying end to a storyline including charactersthat have been around for generations,characters dear to the hearts of many childrenand adults alike? How do you satisfy a fanbasethat can’t even agree within itself what it wants?These were all questions that Star Wars: TheRise Of Skywalker needed to answer, and answerthem correctly. So did the film succeed? According to the fanbase, no. According to me,also no. Why, though? (cont.)

Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker was, quitesimply, a film that didn’t satisfy audiencesbecause in its attempts to please its fanbase, itinstead only ended up making most fans angry.While I won’t spoil the main controversialchoice, I will say that it pandered to oneaudience and ignored the complaints of theother, but somehow managed to make bothsides unhappy instead of giving them a peacefulresolution. The first hour of the film is exposition- enoughso that if Disney desired, they could have madethat part into a whole other movie. It’s a bitmuch to digest all at once. Big name charactersonly appear for short windows of time despitebeing heavily advertised before the movie’srelease. The Rise Of Skywalker just seems likeit’s trying to do too much all at once. That’s not even mentioning the film’s choices inlighting. Certain scenes in the beginning andthe end were so strobe-filled and flashy thateven I, someone with no previous issues withsuch cinematic choices, found myself lookingaway from the screen and getting a headachefrom the sight. It wasn’t all bad, though, although a lot of itwas. The film did deliver one or two funny linesworth cracking a smile over, but the film wasboth dark and clearly family-directed, whichmade for a strange overall vibe due to such acontrasting combination of effects.Additionally, the film is pumped full of CGI.There’s a certain point, while watching a moviefull of CGI, when it’s hard to take theproduction seriously when everything you lookat looks like a video game cutscene. Overall, this movie had a lot of opportunitiesfor success, but it generally failed. While itcould have satisfied its fanbase by leaving somematters be and focusing more on characterdevelopment than making constant referencesto past films, this is Disney. This just goes toshow that in the future, we shouldn’t exactlytrust them to prioritize their characters andstory integrity over what will get them themost money.

The Ponderosa Post EditorsMaia SalterAddie O'RourkeSocial Media CoordinatorAbigail GundryContributorsAbi CrewsAva FriedmanCamille HooverJulia KennedyAnaleez NilesNatalie SalterBella VargasKaylee Young Thank you to Mrs Smelser for being our adviser!