Students in the MHS Thespian Society took their annual trip to Thescon on the weekend of Feb. 6- Feb. 8.  They went to conferences, productions, and booths. The four-day event taught students new theatrical talents. There were also educational aspects of Thescon; scholarships were awarded to certain students.

Thescon took place in Columbus, Ga. They stayed in separate hotel rooms from their chaperones. The students were able to be independent while on the trip. “We had chaperones, but mostly we were expected to get to our own events on time,” senior Ryan Robertson said. “We weren’t treated like we were on a field trip, which was nice.”

During the convention, there were multiple high schools attending from Fayette County; Starrs Mill High School, Whitewater High School and Sandy Creek High School were all able to travel to Columbus.

The convention taught students life-long skills. Senior Kalani Gella said, “this is my second year at the convention.” He attended a variety of classes. “I can juggle and talk in a deep Irish accent. It seems useless,” he said. “But these skills can be used to give performances a higher quality.”

The convention also offers scholarship opportunities. Twelve scholarships are available to senior Thespians. Roughly $24,500 are given to Thespians during the convention through scholarships. The auditions were held during Thescon itself.

Freshman Jack Hemenway was one of the only freshmen that went. “It’s helpful to learn these skills early on, so I can put them to use throughout the rest of high school,” he said. “I went to a puppet class and a stage combat class.” Brady Skaggs was only one other freshman on the trip, out of over twenty students.

Mr. Ken Buswell, the drama teacher, witnessed the students learning more about their craft. “There were workshops on pretty much everything theater related – acting, auditioning, dancing, singing, tech and design,” he said.