The weekend of January 5, 6, and 7th the 21st annual New York State Theatre Education Conference or NYSTEA was held. The student delegates and their teachers took many classes including singing, dancing, and acting to improve their skills for their performances back at home. They started the trip Friday morning at Kenmore West High School, there they boarded a grand tour bus and took a 6 hour drive to Callicoon, New York. Once they got there to resort they ate and they moved into the rooms then went to their first workshop.

The workshops include singing, dancing, acting and improv classes there were more than 150 workshops to choose from. Once the students finish their first workshop they went to a opening ceremony which included an overview for the entire weekend then they went back to their hotels to spend the night and to get ready for the next morning.

On Saturday the students  went to their first workshop after breakfast. After the first workshop they went to another somewhere around the resort then after had an activity hour. Activity hour consists of two or more hours where they could walk around and enjoy the activities around the resort. The activities included swimming, games, karaoke and much more. After this they ate lunch and then went to the last workshop for the day. Soon after this they went to a formal dinner. The theme this year at NYSTEA was masquerade to support finding a cure for AIDs. Also some of the profit raised goes to “Broadway Cares” to support young theatre programs. After dinner they went to another ceremony where students preformed plays other students wrote from around the state and listened to many great singers perform.

From there the students attended a dance party until about 12 am. When they woke up the next morning they had one more workshop to attend. After this workshop they ate lunch then went on to the grand tour bus and made it back to Kenmore West High School where their parents met them. I talked to two of the student delegates and one of the sponsors who got to go they enjoyed themselves very much there but by the end they were extremely exhausted.