Davis High performance groups remain uncertain about future shows

IMAGE: The timeline shows how the Davis Joint Unified School District has reacted the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic (Courtesy: Liliana Ma).

By Caroline Chilcott,

BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

In an effort to “flatten the curve,” Principal Tom McHale announced on March 13 that “all events, extracurricular activities, athletic practices and competitions and performances [would be] cancelled” during the closure of all schools in the Davis Joint Unified School District from March 16 to April 12.

This announcement left several students confused about how they personally would be affected. While many students and parents wanted to learn more about the school’s closure of athletic events and practices, others were curious about school events such as the Jazz Choir’s Cabaret, AVIDs Chico State University college tour and the Black Student Unions (BSU) book drive. 

Jazz Choir

Sophomore Maya Belk, who joined the Jazz Choir this year, was “bummed” when she heard the news of the cancellation of their annual Cabaret fundraiser. The Jazz Choir has been preparing for this event for months. However, since they were going to be serving food and in close quarters, it was important to cancel it.

“I was upset since this is the Jazz Choir’s biggest event of the whole year. It was going to be my first time performing in Cabaret; now I will have to wait until next year,” Belk said. 

The event would have been junior Gabrielle Marquez’s second Jazz Choir Cabaret. Marquez explained how the Jazz Choir plans to “let the show go on.” 

“We’ve been talking about recording it at Brunelle and selling it online, but most of us want to perform it in front of a live audience, so we’re hoping that we can postpone it,” Marquez said. “I was really excited to show my family everything we’ve been working on, but I still am hopeful that we’ll be able to perform it later.”

AVID tour and book drive

Senior Paloma Torez has been in AVID since eighth grade. Every year, she looks forward to the college trips because she gets to explore her options. Sadly, AVID’s tour of Chico State University was cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 

“I was looking forward to this [college tour] because I applied to Chico state and it was going to be a good way for me to explore around and see if I like the campus and environment enough for me to study there for four years,” Torez said. 

Member of the BSU, Valdy Ngassam, was planning a book drive with the Yolo County library to collect books for children. 

“We were discussing with the library how to orchestrate it before this pandemic hit Davis. Now with the coronavirus, it’s likely that we won’t be able to launch this project until next year, due to time sufficiency,” Ngassam said. “The news was disappointing, but I acknowledge that it’s in our best interest to take safety precautions first more than anything else.”

Drama department

Junior Maya Bailey was the sound designer of the school play, “Clue,” which was cancelled before they could finish all of their shows. Bailey has been a member of the DHS Drama Department since her sophomore year and was looking forward to “Clue” because it was going to be her first time ever sound designing a show. 

“I learned a lot during the process, and I had been anticipating getting to witness the end result for around three months,” Bailey said. “I was very sad when I heard ‘Clue’ was cancelled. I just knew we had worked so hard towards making this show great, and it was a shame that our run was cut short.”

 As of now, it seems that the DHS Drama Department will finish their run if or when school returns, but it’s still undecided.

Although these school events were unfortunately cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it is important to understand that these drastic measures were taken in order to ensure the safety of all students and staff at DHS.