Breckenridge Junior High students enter December with a full slate of competitions that showcase both academic excellence and theatrical talent.
BJHS will send a team of sixth through eighth graders to compete in the UIL A+ Academics meet Wednesday, Dec. 4 at Peaster Junior High. Students will represent Breckenridge in a wide range of events, including chess, art smart, modern oratory, impromptu speaking, oral reading, music memory, ready writing, editorial writing, calculator applications, dictionary skills, spelling, listening, maps/graphs/charts, mathematics, numbers sense, science and social studies.
Students have been preparing for weeks, balancing after-school practices with regular coursework.
Just days later, BJHS will host the UIL One Act Play competition Monday, Dec. 8 and Tuesday, Dec. 9. Students will perform The Book of Everything before judges and fellow schools. The cast and crew have been rehearsing every Tuesday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., refining their delivery, staging and timing.
In the synopsis of the one-act version of the play, it describes the main character Thomas as living in both the world of his mind and the reality of his troubled family’s home in postwar Amsterdam.
“Whether imagined angels support him or his father beats him, he records it all in his Book of Everything. But when Thomas begins to form surprising connections with the people around him, suddenly it seems that maybe the two worlds don’t have to be so far apart,” the synopsis reads.
The production features Cantyn McClymond as Thomas Klopper and Melody Mathias as Margot Klopper, with Kylea Hale, Raylee Lee, Colemyn Jarret, Lilly Diaz, Graceyn Gibson, Hagen Johnson and Brock Shepherd rounding out the principal cast.
Ensemble and street children roles for the play, adapted for the stage by Australian playwright Richard Tulloch, include Siler Morehart, Cooper Carrion, Cam Maxwell, Conner Carrion, Carder McClymond, Caleb Windsor and Jackson Morehart.
Behind the scenes, crew members Diya Ghandi, Addison Berkley, Aubryn Hayworth and McKenzie McCormick are managing technical elements, while Wheatley Johnson and Rhyder Patterson serve on the house crew.
Both contests offer students a chance to grow–academically, artistically and personally–while representing Breckenridge with pride.
