C.E.L.L students address school board

MT. PLEASANT — Armed with a PowerPoint presentation, Bryton Weir, Eva Rounceville, and Kamryn Hart presented their C.E.L.L (Communication, Employability, Life skills and Leadership) Class project ideas for an auditorium replacement to the school board, Monday.

Armed with a PowerPoint presentation, Bryton Weir, Eva Rounceville, and Kamryn Hart presented

Weir described the class as a type of business class.

“It teaches you a lot of different ides like how to buy different buildings and how to finance things,” he said. “So, in the middle of the year, you get to choose a project to work on, and we chose that we wanted to build a new auditorium.”

“Theatre is a form of knowledge; it should and can also be a means of transforming society. Theatre can help us build our future, rather than just waiting for it,” Kamryn Hart began the group’s presentation reading this quote from Augusto Boal.

Weir walked the board through an agenda for their presentation consisting of current problems with the auditorium, current details, updates on the Heatlitor Auditorium, a considered idea, and their official idea for auditorium replacement.

“Our current problem right now is that the current auditorium lacks space for the Mt. Pleasant Fine Arts Department and the community,” Weir said.

According to Rounceville, the Heatilator Auditorium has 350 seats, one prop room, two dressing rooms, two wing areas, and one lounge downstairs.

“The cost per day is $150 with a $150 deposit,” Rounceville informed the board.

“The current issue right now, is it lacking seating space,” Weir said. “It also is lacking fly space above.”

Weir expressed concerns for space. Without much fly space, it is difficult to attach props overhead. Small wings are difficult to fit crew and props into, and there is not room for an orchestra pit.

“The lights need to be upgraded,” he continued. “Right now, it has trouble turning on and you have to hit it a couple times.” so if you wanted to have people attached to things or have different props ahead there isn’t a lot of room

As part of their project, the group needed to explore more than one option to solve their problem.

Rounceville presented a brief overview of the possibility of converting the current gym and weight room into an auditorium and dressing rooms, but the group did not recommend this option.

Instead, Weir, Hart, and Rounceville recommended building a new auditorium in an open space near the school.

According to Weir, benefits of a new auditorium would include expanded and better quality seating, an updated facility, and more access for the community to utilize the space.

The group even provided the board a rough blue print of the proposed facility using Minecraft.

“I’ve never played Minecraft before,” Hart said. “So, we all pitched in some money and decided a 3/2D version would be the best way for you to see it.”

The group ran numbers for their 700-seat auditorium project and presented the board with a total cost of just over $15,000,000.

“We compared the price to similar auditoriums,” Weir said. “This was the price of similar auditoriums.”

Hart discussed some concerns about the cost.

“I know with this solution, there will be some concerns,” she said. “Our first one, obviously, is cost. As you can see, it is $15,000,000. It’s going to be a lot of money but it is also giving back to our community and giving back to our school district.”

Hart suggested part of the funding could come from grants and fundraising.

“Donations could also help this project,” Hart said. “We also reached out to community members and they said this was a great idea and they would love to help out where they could.”

Hart commented that while this solution would take time, their group felt it is worth the wait.

When addressing concerns community and school district support, “We went around asking people if they thought an auditorium was a good idea, and we have received nothing but support for our project,” Hart said before opening the presentation for questions.

The board thanked the students for their presentation and participated in a brief Question and Answer session.

In response to a question about why they chose 700-seats, Weir informed the board that he spoke with Band Director Jim DePriest who had already done some research on the subject.

“There is definitely a need for it,” Chuck Andrew commented.

Comments: AnnaMarie.Ward@southeastiowaunion.com