What does it take to create a successful award ceremony with 100+ awards, live performances, and hundreds of spectators? Our own expert for the MPHS event, Mindy Wischmeyer, has been making Oscars possible for over 20. What started as a production with 30 awards and about 100 people in attendance at the Ward Theater downtown, has now evolved into an incredible award show held right at MPHS. It has grown into a memorable production that attracts members from all over the community who come to celebrate the talents and specialties of MPHS. At its current size, it’s transitioned from a single-person event to a major production by Business Management.
For 7 months, Ms. Wischmeyer’s students percicley plan out how they want Oscars to go. From creating all the awards to tallying every single vote that comes in from the students, selling tickets on their own time and during school, and also managing the amount of money they have as a class to spend on the event. But their jobs do not stop there, most kids from Ms. Wischmeyer’s class volunteer to host the event that night, which means instead of enjoying the show from the seats in the audience they are backstage with microphones, headsets, and scripts.
The night of the event is where all the magic happens. Through the headsets, Ms. Wischmeyer speaks her thoughts to anyone listening and also communicates with the lighting and music technicians. Backstage the students are on their own to create a system that works smoothly for how they want to run their show. Being connected to a microphone is an invigorating feeling, with having all the attention on you with the added pressure of not messing up the script written by fellow students. Those one the mics enjoy that feeling and want to share their enjoyment for entertaining others. Ms. Wischmeyer explains, “Seeing everybody come together, seeing my students that have worked so hard, they really shine that night and I get to see how 3 classes, when it’s not easy to have 3 different classes do 3 different parts of the event, I get to see how they work together as a team.” Collaboration is on full display throughout the event.
To Ms. Wischmeyer and many students, Oscars isn’t just a fundraising opportunity where awards are handed out, it’s about bringing the community together and recognizing the students who are not typically the ones in the spotlight. According to Ms. Wischmeyer, “You always get recognized if you’re on the football team, basketball team, but we don’t always recognize our musicians, fine arts kids, our kids who are just a bundle of sunshine and who are fun to be around.” Ms. Wischmeyer’s passion to facilitate the Oscars really shows that as a teacher, she will do whatever it takes to give everyone a chance to be recognized for who they are and the confounding qualities that they consist of.
Overall we can come to a consensus that there is a lot more that meets the eye with the MPHS Oscars. Including all the hard work and dedication that the Business Management students put into it to create a remarkable and memorable event for MPHS History. Each Oscars event that is held is a lesson for the next one to come– by reflecting on what could be done differently and what went well allows it to continue to evolve into an incredible community event. Wischmeyer says it best when noting, “It’s all about the ultimate communication, problem solving, and having good memories.”
