It is hard to believe that we are here on our production weekend. Disney’s Frozen, Jr. has been a dream of ours for over a year. After securing the rights last June, we have had Frozen on our minds and been melting at the idea of bringing this show to the Guardian Angels community. The journey to Arendelle has been filled with life lessons for all involved. We have watched as this group of students nervously entered the audition room months ago and now stand on the stage as proud players in a massive production that has taught them to persevere through challenges they didn’t know existed.
To say that we are proud of the cast is an understatement. We were very clear with our high standards and expectations before the auditions took place. These brave students took that and rose beyond our expectations to bring a level of quality to an elementary school performance that is a beacon of student achievement. All involved have learned the valuable lesson that anything is possible and that everyone is capable of writing their own story when they are given the opportunity.
The Ottawa Catholic School Board is deeply committed to the Deep Learning framework. Working on a production like this is an embodiment of the Global Competencies of Deep Learning-the 6C’s. Students are living creativity, communication, character, critical-thinking, collaboration, and citizenship on a daily basis. They are part of a unit-learning to rely on each other, lean on each other, and be there for each other through challenges and triumphs.
A project like this requires an enormous amount of support from an enormous amount of people. While we are certain that our principal, Mrs. Julie Hanna, would like to hide under her desk when we approach her office, she embraces our ideas with exuberance and an outpouring of support. She sets the tone for the school community being supportive of the production and understands our craziness along the way. We are beyond grateful for the understanding staff and administrators at Guardian Angels. Our dedicated production team has worked tirelessly behind the scenes to make this project a reality. We are beyond grateful for their support.
We appreciate families rearranging their schedules, providing transportation, extra snacks, at-home rehearsal support, and everything in between. You have given your children a gift that will last a lifetime and memories that will feed their souls. We are also beyond grateful to our own families–our children and spouses that are supportive and understanding of our passions and crazy schedules.
Finally, thank you for coming to support these amazing young students. We hope that they show you that the future is bright and that these children are ambassadors of the creative arts.
It is our hope that we all walk away renewed with some of the lessons that Frozen teaches us: don’t judge a book by its cover, let it go, get behind strong women, feel…don’t conceal, dream big…like Olaf, learn to be selfless, nobody’s perfect, be bold, and that true love takes time.
We feel about about these students, your children, as Olaf feels about Anna: some people are worth melting for.
For the last time in forever...
Andrew Arcello & Meghan Beanlands
