Centennial students’ performances benefit Make-A-Wish

Keith Shimada / Special to the Home News

Centennial High School’s Joe Tripoli, right, talks about the wish Madelyn, left, has as Gloria Malone listens at An Evening of Hope, Strength, Joy.

By Jeff Pope (contact)

Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008 | 7:25 p.m.

Keith Shimada / Special to the Home News

Centennial High School's Rachel Leonard performs at An Evening of Hope, Strength, Joy.

Keith Shimada / Special to the Home News

Centennial High School's Summer Silvers performs at An Evening of Hope, Strength, Joy.

Centennial High School theater students lent their talents to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Southern Nevada.

The students sang, danced and told the stories of local Wish kids before a nearly sold out school theater Dec. 19. It was the first year for the program called “An Evening of Hope, Strength, Joy” — the foundation’s motto.

Drama teacher Kelly McCollum said it would be a regular event to give her students the opportunity to help their community.

“We felt like it would be really cool for Christmas to have a show that’s about hope, strength and joy,” McCollum said.

All proceeds benefit Make-A-Wish, which grants requests by children with life-threatening diseases. McCollum said the event raised more than $2,000.

Students practiced, mostly on their own time, for the past two months on songs about the night’s theme or memorized the stories of the Wish kids in their own words.

Freshman Ryne Belanger told the story of Thomas, a 10-year-old boy with leukemia who met his idol — comedian George Lopez.

“That’s really awesome that he got to meet his favorite celebrity and that people actually do that for him. I think that every kid should get that chance to do what they want,” he said.

Senior Iselin Hoghjelle sang “Tomorrow” from “Annie” a cappella, partly in her native Norwegian and partly in English. The song captures the theme of hope well, she said.

Bradley Rowland, 17, told the story of Alonso — an 8-year-old baseball fan whose wish to meet the Cleveland Indians was granted.

Rowland had not met Alonso before the show but felt a connection to him because of their mutual love of the game.

While the entertainers had fun, Rowland said they also understood the significance of the show and how different it was for them compared to other performances.

“(We perform) a lot of things like comedies and lip sync where everybody’s having a good time, but this is serious, and I believe everybody needs to realize and look at how lucky some people are,” he said.

The theater students also raise money for AIDS programs with their annual “Bulldogs for Broadway” show.

McCollum and photographer John Woodbury organized the show. Woodbury often captures the kids’ wishes for the foundation and had a daughter perform in the show.

Jeff Pope can be reached at 990-2688 or jeff.pope@hbcpub.com