By Elektra Sipars
(North Bergen--February 5, 2016) Written, directed, and performed by High
Tech High School students, The
High Tech Talk Show: Start the Conversation offers both a serious and
humorous performance that addresses the support services made available to freshmen,
including board policies on bullying, to foster a positive culture at High Tech, announced Dr. Joseph
Giammarella, Principal of High Tech High School.
Senior Emory
Kemph, a Weehawken resident, originated the idea for The High Tech Talk Show: Start the
Conversation after experiencing
anxiety during her sophomore year. During
her junior year, she became acutely aware that she didn’t struggle
with harrowing challenges alone, that quite a few other students had experienced
similar trials. Aware that bullying, a subject mandated for
discussion in all schools today, might merely be the tip of the iceberg, Kemph
sought a creative means to address the myriad concerns that affect so
many students in their everyday lives.
Kemph admitted
to having had a great support system, yet she believed that other high school
students might not be as fortunate as she.
Thus, she wanted to make a difference for them. Drawing inspiration from theatrical productions
on mental wellness and bullying at colleges all across the country, Kemph, a drama
major herself, ran with the idea for The High Tech Talk Show: Start the Conversation to
promote mental health services at High Tech and make it easier for kids to feel
comfortable in seeking out help.
Embraced
by administrators and performed by students from the Peer Leadership Club
for freshmen at High Tech, The High Tech Talk Show: Start the Conversation
offers a series of vignettes that center on such student challenges as
romance, succeeding in class, peer pressure, insecurity, bullying, and
loneliness. Each vignette proves relatable
to most students and concludes with information on places to fseek
help. To ensure the spread of the production’s message, members of
the Peer Leadership Club who did not perform, along with Valeria Arias,
High Tech social worker and Peer Leadership advisor, and Catherine Alvarez,
freshman guidance counselor, attended all Freshman Orientation classes to
discuss The
High Tech Talk Show: Start the Conversation. Other Peer Leadership advisors, Elektra
Sipars, Annemarie Gogliucci-Ponce, and Linda DiGiacomo, also surveyed
students on their thoughts.
Due to its stellar reception, The High Tech Talk Show: Start the Conversation will be performed again in the Blackbox Theater at North
Hudson Center of Hudson County Schools of Technology on March 23rd
at 9:30 am, specifically for the Hudson County Social Emotional
Consortioum.
