By: Olivia Petersen

Many people have heard of the poem “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe.  English 1R teacher Elizabeth Huggins’ class got a chance to learn about the poem first hand by preparing and performing the poem for other classes.

The class worked on the performance for a week starting last Friday, Oct. 22, when students were assigned their stanzas. Students picked their own stanza to perform and people volunteered for the part of the raven.

To prepare for the performance, students memorized lines, prepared costumes, and rehearsed during class. Most students believe the process was fast. Maren McNees said the process went quickly because they made it fun.

The poem was preformed Friday, Oct. 29, for 1^st, 3^rd, 4^th, and 6^th periods. Teachers were sent E-mails and could decide if they wanted to take their class to watch it.

A small majority of students were nervous about performing in front of their peers. Freshman Payton Ryan said, “I’m afraid I’m going to mess up a line.” Freshman Cal Heuton was only a little nervous because he only had a couple of lines. Other students weren’t nervous at all.  Freshman Lillie Zablocki was one of the students who wasn’t nervous. “We’ve gone over it enough and have scripts,” she said.

The students also got a chance to learn different things while preparing and performing the poem. Freshman Elizabeth Siggins learned how to speak lines in rhythm, while Garret Peterson learned how to talk with expression. Huggins wanted her students to learn that reading can be entertaining, enjoyable, and also to learn how to hear their own voice.

“The Raven” wasn’t just an enjoyable experience for the performers, but also for audience members. Seniors Shelby Svoboda and Sierra Worth both agreed that the performance was entertaining and they both got a better understanding of the poem. Junior Alisha Hinzmann also enjoyed the poem and her favorite part was the middle act. Choir teacher Luke Johnson enjoyed that all the students were prepared for the production and how poised all the performers were.  Huggins wanted audience members to see that there is learning going on in the school.

Although most students enjoyed performing “The Raven,” Huggins said at first they were very skeptical. Huggins thought her students did a marvelous job and said, “I was so pleased with them.”  When asked if she will be doing this in the years to come, Huggins replied,” I hope so. I absolutely hope so.”

The poem is about a man thinking about his dead girlfriend, when a raven flies in. The man asks the raven to leave but the raven won’t. The raven seems to have the ability to talk but only says one word “Nevermore.”

Britain Brooks, Dillion Cox, Austen Eden, Kelsey Hamilton, Kristin Johnk, Sara King, Lauren Krogman, Raeann Laehle, Benton Maas-Gearheart, Maren McNees, Mathew Mills, Tye Nielsen, Payton Ryan, Elijah Von Weyhe, Hailey Walters, Savannah Whetstone, and Nicolas Zimmerman performed in first period.

Jacob Arneson, Nicholas Barry, Troy Bird, Nicholas Crews, Justin Elem, Lisa Gearheart, Cal Heuton, Preston Hoye, Hannah Jespersen, Tanner Lovell, Garret McConnell, Meghan Plambeck, Debra Potter, Sam Renaud, Taylor Rourick, Wyatt, Evan Schuler, Elizabeth Siggins, Sierra Smith, Paige Sorensen, Logan Steffens, Valerie Watson, Monica Witzman, Steven Wright, and Lillie Zablocki performed in third period.

Alexi Allen, Victoria Gibson, Benjamin Mahoney, Zachary Nelson, Joey Nielsen, Jordan Nielsen, Jonathan Quezada, Tucker Sager, Landon Stark, Jeffrey Stewert, Corey Sunderman, Alex Tarr, Bailey Walter, Dylan Williams, Keaton Wise, and Haley Wright performed in fourth period.

Jessica Askeland, Tyler Christensen, Matthew Davidson, Christopher Evans, Brooke Fletcher, Logan Hemphill, Nathan Jeray, Chase Jones, Morgan Munsey, Haley Murphy, Jacob Nachtman, Justin O’Neill, Garret Peterson, Jezidiah Phippen, Nicholas Renner, Darrian Schwenke, Michael Thomsen, Leah Tjepkes, Logan Welter, and Adam Wieser performed in sixth period.