Shooting Stars

Jonathan Dawson

A segment of Jonathan Dawson’s eight minute audition tape playing the violin was showing. His heart was racing before the last of the first place winners were being announced in the previous category. The strings category was next. When they called his name, he was at a loss for words.

“After they said, ‘the first place winner is…’ that was where my heart was like, ‘Oh no, am I really going to win this?’” Dawson said.

Dawson has been in the East orchestra for four years, but it was in middle school where he realized that playing the violin is something he really loves to do. After seeing the rest of the nominees’ audition tapes for the strings category, he was almost convinced that he was going to win.

“I thought my audition was pretty good, and when I saw everyone else’s, I was like, ‘Did they actually play that way?” Dawson said. “[The other performances weren’t] very good, so I was kind of expecting it would happen…I really had my hopes up when they called the last two winners.”

He thinks it was his intonation and movement during his audition that landed him the first place scholarship. According to Dawson, he says musicality is what the judges look for and he thinks that played a key role in him winning.

Dawson has been accepted and is thinking about attending Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He says he wants to continue playing the violin, but isn’t quite sure that he could make it into a career.

“I want it to be a part of my life but I don’t think I can make it into a profession only because it’s a really tough world out there,” Dawson said. “Getting into an orchestra, your chances are slimmer than the NFL or something, because everyone is there until they retire, unlike the NFL where you are only there for five years.”

Though Dawson is enthusiastic about winning the scholarship, he is most excited to relieve some of the financial stress that college brings.

“It will make me a lot happier because I won’t have to pay back some student loans,” Dawson said.

Emma Marston

“Ugh, it’s Sunday, and I just want to go home and relax,” senior Emma Marston thought to herself. She was aside other nominees at the awards gala, and didn’t quite think anything of it at first.

“Emma Marston,” Brad Stephens projected through the microphone. A look of bewilderment sat on Marston’s face as she tried to accept that she just won.

“They called my name, and I just had this look of utter confusion because I just couldn’t believe it,” Marston said. “I felt so blessed that I got nominated, and that was all I needed.”

Seeing the other nominees beside her, she thought there was no way she was going to win at all. Marston ended up receiving the first place scholarship and believes she can owe that to her audition in front of the judges.

“I could tell that the judges enjoyed watching me. I loved that and I really fed off of them,” Marston said. “But it could have been any of those people to get it. I am just so blessed to have gotten it.”

It was during middle school that Marston really started getting into theatre and performing in shows. She has been involved in theatre all four years at East, and has been in several productions throughout her high school career.

During the theatre banquet, she won Best Actress her sophomore year and junior year, along with Best Supporting Actress the following year.

“I really feel humbled by that because those were my peers who voted for me, and that means a lot because they are really talented people,” Marston said. “Just knowing that they think that I’m worth having some sort of recognition is just really wonderful of them, and getting nominated for Shooting Stars is definitely up there.”

Marston plans on attending Stephen’s College in Columbia, Mo. to be a musical theatre major, and wants to turn her passion for theatre into a fully fledged career and not just something on the side.

“My mom has always told me, ‘Do what you love and the money will come,’ and I realized that I don’t want to be one of those adults who do community theater for fun,” Marston said. “I want to be serious about it, and the Shooting Star Scholarship is helping me do that.”

Ricky Latshaw

Each finalist was lined up backstage waiting for their name to be called. Senior Ricky Latshaw started to get excited right after he heard the second place winner’s name sound through the auditorium.

“In first place, Ricky Latshaw for Technical Theatre,” KCTV5 news anchor Brad Stephens voiced from the microphone.

Latshaw knew he was being nominated for the scholarship, but was no less thrilled and excited when he heard his name. He says it was “nice” to be recognized for all the work that he has done.

After acting in two frequent Fridays during his freshman year, Latshaw says he prefers the technical side of theater rather than being on stage.

“I went to the first all-theater meeting my freshman year, and the person working the lights at the time said lights crew gets to go up in the ceiling to work the lights,” Latshaw said. “It was right then that I started to get into lighting.”

Latshaw has spent three nights every 10 weeks working the lighting at shows at the American Heartland theatre, the New Theatre restaurant and Coterie theatre. He thinks the work that he put into theatre all four years––inside and outside of school––helped him get nominated for the award.

“I’ve been crew chief for every show this year and basically led everyone else,” Latshaw said. “I started out doing the first show my freshman year, and I’ve done every show since then.”

He was nominated for the scholarship by theatre teacher Tom DeFeo, who says because of Latshaw’s training over the past four years, he would be more successful than anyone else.

“He lives and breathes theater, and he’s here all the time,” DeFeo said. “I’ve got him working outside of school doing professional work; he’s already fully into it.”

Latshaw will be studying lighting design at the University of Michigan after a gap year.

“I hope to continue on with it because I really like lighting design and just working backstage,” Latshaw said. “I hope to end up on Broadway in New York some day.”

DJ Burton

The anticipation was building backstage as senior DJ Burton waited among the rest of the scholarship finalists for the awards ceremony to begin. Approximately 30 minutes passed before students were finally being called out on stage. His name was the first announced for his category, 2D art. He blanked at the thought of what to do next.

“That moment was kind of a blur, because I was the first category to go out, and I was the second place winner so I was first to get called up,” Burton said. “So I didn’t get to see anyone else go to see how I was suppose to stand or shake his hand.”

Even though Burton says that he was pretty nervous, overall he feels it was a good thing to experience.

“I was really nervous because I had to stand out there by myself in the spotlight,” Burton said. “I didn’t know what the kids that I was surrounded by were capable of, but it was definitely a good and new experience.”

He has worked on several pieces of art as projects in his art classes and of his own. Painting the fifth floor bathroom, props for a movie and painting a 17 by 17 foot mural for an art gala in remembrance of a local artist have been a few of his achievements in the past few years.

For the scholarship, seven pieces of personal artwork were needed for submission. He knew he was being nominated, but he didn’t think he could actually win or even place, never having competed within the arts before.

Burton thinks that the fact that his personality showed through in his artwork and his individuality was clearly seen helped him place with the judges.

“The girl who won in the 2D Art category told me that she saw one of my pieces and said, ‘It just screamed you,” Burton said. “And that made me feel good, so not only was it technically drawn well, but it was a project that I put myself into and people were able to recognize that, and I think that that is something that helped me place.”

Burton wants to attend Kansas City Art Institute to major in Art Illustration and possibly attend UMKC later on to get a degree in teaching, so that he can become an art educator.

Burton feels proud winning something like the Shooting Stars Scholarship, and is amazed by it, knowing that he placed second in his category out of all of Johnson County.

“It gave me confidence,” Burton said. “Being able to see that I can actually compete and actually believe in myself, that I am as good as people say that I am.”