At the winter assembly on January 26th, 2024, Ridge Student Government decided to do a different event for both faculty and students. Instead of a cookie-cutter assembly, they branched out and asked teachers to join for a Masked Singer event. Being STUGO Vice President, I thought I could provide some more insider knowledge on the event that changed the winter assembly.
Each teacher had to choose and pre-record a song. Costumes were either provided by the teachers themselves or created by Mountain Ridge’s theater department costume crew. There were two practices before the actual assembly: one costume check, where the teachers who were getting their costumes through theater were able to try them on and test how well they concealed identity and if they were easy to move in; the second was a run-through with music, using the correct entrance to the gym.
The actual performance took place during the middle of the assembly, with each teacher/singer performing before being asked a few questions by the student panel judges. This continued for 7 performances, including two duets. The winner of the first assembly was Medusa, unmasked to be Dr Chisholm. The winner of the second assembly was the duo the Dino Flower and Undead Football Player who sang “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, and were revealed to be Mr Gates and Miss Sefcik.
Dr Chisholm spoke about her experience with the event. “I knew that when you came into my room there was going to be a request, but when I heard we could be anonymous, I thought – why not? STUGO works very hard to promote an excellent campus culture and teachers are always happy to be a part of that.”
However, she did mention that the event brought its own set of ups and downs. “That’s not to say it’s not nerve-wracking. Yes, we get nervous too (except Ms. Romero who is always chill!) and so there was a bit of adrenaline involved.”
When I asked her about winning the event, including keeping the Masked Singer trophy, Dr Chisholm responded by saying she was honored. “I’ve always liked singing although I’ve never had any real training. I’m a kitchen concertist, so to speak. Hopefully the students had a good time and I look forward to seeing new talent that next year will bring!”
Mr Mohler, Mountain Ridge’s resident Algebra 3-4 Honors teacher, went above and beyond, performing two different songs with two different corresponding costumes. When talking about how he made that decision, Mr Mohler said, “Mr. Lopez and I had a disagreement about which song would go over better, so when STUGO asked me to do both assemblies I thought it would be an opportunity to test our respective hypotheses. As is usually the case when Mr. Lopez and I disagree, I was right. Mrs. Lopez did my choreography to help me prove I was right,” he said with a laugh.
Mr Mohler continued, “The staff here is always so awesome and spirited so I thought it was fun to see the teachers put themselves out there and give this a shot. Where else are you going to hear Ms Romero sing Lowrider?”
Overall, the Masked Singer event raised energy and provided a good experience for both students and teachers alike, who enjoyed the guessing game and the possibility of their teacher being under the mask.
