Baccalaureate 2009 Or: Not Just Another Senior Event You Need to Buy New Clothes For

by Annie Massa

When I first heard about the Baccalaureate last year, all I knew for certain about it was that it happened. It took me a long time, perhaps longer than it should have, to understand what the ceremony was exactly and why we have it. If you by any strange coincidence have wondered these things yourself, advance to the next paragraph.

The Baccalaureate, like 97% of June of senior year, is a celebration. It is a performance, art show, and reception, designed to showcase the talent of all 12th graders involved in the arts. This year, 27 members of the senior class will take part in the Baccalaureate show, on everything from vocals to violin. In under 2 hours, the audience will be swept from classical to rock to jazz music, then right on to a gorgeous display of the senior studio art students’ work, reminiscent of the show we recently had in our atrium.

I won’t give away the entire program, but here’s a random sampling of what you’ll be treated to on June 14th: there is a group playing a jazz arrangement of the Beatles song Dear Prudence, and another playing Girl From Ipanema. There are solo performances of the medley Some Other Time/That’s What Friends Are For, Astonishing from Little Women, and the first movement of Beethoven’s piano sonata Pathetique. Duets abound, for instrument pairings like viola and violin, flute and clarinet, bass and viola, and cello and guitar. One group will sing the popular tune I Hope You Dance, and there will even be a rendition of the Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You Want. Richard Bastuck does lead vocals for that particular number and organized the people in it. As it is the biggest act on the program, I talked with him about his experience planning and rehearsing so far.

The inspiration to organize an ensemble to perform the piece hit him totally by chance when he was on his way home from the doctor’s office one day. He had the radio on, and it so happened that they were playing a certain Mick Jagger song that he liked quite a bit. Said Richard, “I was singing along, like always, when I realized: ‘Hey, this could work really well as a Baccalaureate possibility.’” Wasting no time he gathered together a group of instrumentalists and backup singers, and after a few rehearsals, he had the show’s closing number on his hands. The overall experience has been both surprising and exhilarating for him, and he added, “I’m happy because I’m working with a great group of people and some of my best friends from high school.” But he’s not the only one who’s psyched for Sunday. Like Richard, who took a song he liked singing along to and created a full-blown, feel-good musical number out of it, the whole group of student performers is exceptionally enthusiastic and vibrant.

The first Baccalaureate rehearsal took place last month, and going into it I honestly didn’t expect much more than a first rehearsal. I expected that I would get a vague idea of what most of the acts looked like, and I expected it would be our first opportunity to get excited about the show together. What I ended up really getting was a thrill when each new student or group of students went up to rehearse as the night went along. Every act was so earnest and electric that, if you ignored the fact that it was the chorus room at 7 pm on a school night and we were all in our sweatpants, it could have been mistaken for the real performance.

Reflecting on the experience later on, I realized how critical it is that we have the opportunity to perform for one another like this before we graduate. Growing up in a K-12 school, I think we all sometimes assume that we know everything worth knowing about our classmates. But I will risk sounding like a sappy sentimentalist and say the following: when I watch my fellow seniors perform, or admire their art in the hallways, I feel as though I’m seeing people that I’ve encountered every day for my entire life in a completely different way.

The Baccalaureate is important, people. That’s why you should attend. Well, as far as seniors are concerned no one is off the hook—all 12th are required to come and process into the auditorium in a stately manner. The much-loved biology and environmental science teacher Ms. Meyer will also be there to address us as a class. Anyone who is not a senior or a family member of a senior with interest in seeing the show is welcome as well, but seating is limited. The Baccalaureate will take place at 4:30 pm on Sunday, June 14th in the Sommer Center at Concordia College. Contact Mary Vonnegut or Mary Massa with questions.