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Yet another beautiful performance by the PPBHS Performing Arts. The doors to the Loren Donley Center of the Performing Arts open again for the one-night showing of the Point Pleasant Borough Show Choir performance. I had the honor of watching them practice, even though I was the only person in the room it felt like the room would have been a full house with how well and how much passion they performed for me. They were all engaged and smiled ear to ear, you could tell how much they enjoyed being on stage, having the light shine on them, and being together. To quote one of the amazingly talented performers Gabrielle Greffen, “Show choir brings together such a beautiful group of people. We all share a combined love for music performing!” You could truly tell how real their love was for music just by the look on their faces. The guys being accompanied by a few girls had performed their song Uptown Girl and did an amazing job at it. The song opened strong with Catello DiVuolo’s solo followed by the other seniors performing the song. When asked about how he thought the performance went Catello said, “I'm happy with how the show turned out, especially for how little time we had to get the songs and dancing down. I'm proud of us.” This brought me to shock finding out they only had a short amount of time and put together a show as well as they did. The girls had their song of I Say A Little Prayer, the way their voices came together was art in itself. At the end of the some, they all walked to the center of the stage and posed, smiling at each other. You could see some people’s stage smiles turn into a true genuine love for what they were doing and the people they were doing it with. When I asked one of the seniors, Emily Ruggiero, about the performance at the end of the show she said, “I’m thankful for everyone in show choir and especially the other seniors for making me feel so welcomed and a part of this little family since this is my first and last year doing it.” Personally, I loved their performance of A Change is Gonna Come which was played on the piano by Laim Hulse. To open the song Aly Stefan and Aidan Gay walked out and meet in the center to hold hands and bring each other to the front of the stage where they then separated to sing their solos. The only words I could say at the moment were wow, oh my god, and wow. They both have such strong voices, it was honestly powerful, the best part about it is how you could see their love for what they were doing like it was spelt out to you. The show choir also performed the song Respect, the song opened with Emily Ruggerio’s solo and that alone was great. She was then followed by the beautiful and talented Alana Kulazewski, who is only a sophomore that completely took over the stage. Jacqueline Murphy’s smile was contagious as she sang her heart out. When Jacqueline performs she shows so much emotion with every step. The last song in the program was And So it Goes. From the first note, their voices harmonized perfectly. Their voices filled the audience. Once it reached me in the booth I felt goosebumps crawl up my arms. It was a perfect way to end the show. Or so everyone thought. They had yet to be over. Miss Villa student had a surprise waiting for her and the rest of the audience had the pleasure of sharing the heart-touching moment with the performers. Without Miss Villa's knowledge the senior had organized a plan, they were going to get the whole show choir to perform yet another song acapella for her to listen to. They pulled out a chair and placed her on center stage with all of them hugging each other around her. The room filled with emotion, tears ran down the face of just about everyone there. It was snitching less than magical, to see how close they had grown and so fast. You could tell how proud they were to do it for her. At the end of the show, they all joined together and hugged Miss Villa, surrounding her with the love and friendships that she helped to build. Lastly I would like to quote one of the performers Olivia Bruno, “I'm so proud of the show choir this year. I loved working with everyone. It really is such a fun thing to do and I highly encourage others to be confident and try out next year!” Confidence is the most beautiful thing someone can wear, and all of these students wear it with pride.

Panthers were just a tad bit hungry for gulls tonight. In the Beach vs Boro wrestling match Point Pleasant Borough beat Point Beach, 63 to 18. Before the doors even opened people were preparing for the match. The match that people talk about the moment wrestling season starts. During school before the match you can he ar girls chatting about their outfits hours before the game, and guys getting each other “hype” for the night that was about to come. Borough in black and beach in white. Home colors. The match started off strong, the pits were overflowing with students. They roared and squawked at each other. Back and forth yelling. “We can’t hear you!” Over and over. Yet the second the music started everyone else in the crowd began to yell at the top of their lungs! The show was about to begin.. It was an easy win for the Panthers, there was no question that they were going to end up on top. From the first match to the last, they had a far lead ahead of the beach. They finished quickly with Point Borough on top, the whole thing lasted about 45 minutes. The Point Pleasant Panthers were really hungry tonight.

The room was well filled with an audience and the stage was packed with performers. The lights went down and the applause began. The excitement for the Point Pleasant Borough band concert for the winter of 2022. One of the seniors, Alivia Muhlenbruck, an Alto Saxophone player, told me, “ It was one of our best performances.” Senior Megan Morton, who plays the Clarinet and is the section leader, opened the whole show and brought the band into unison. The performance started the same way it always does with the National Anthem, the Star Spangled Banner, as always the band sounded amazing. They then went on to a Christmas compilation, listening and being able to pick out the different Christmas favorites as they flowed into one another was amazing. During the song, Pavanne David Mammano, a junior at Point Borough, performed a solo on the trumpet. He stood at the front of the stage for the entire song and sounded wonderful as he did so. For those who don’t know he also played one of the leads in the High School performance of Buddy the Elf as Walter Hobbs, the dad. Not only was he preparing for that show, memorizing all of his lines but he was simultaneously preparing for this performance. Bring amazing talent both times. They played a tribute to the phantom of the opera because the show is leaving the Broadway stage. From the first note, it sounded amazing, then when they went into the song it only got better from there. The way the music flowed together was beautiful. During the song a senior Ben Peterson was playing the violin, he was the only one playing and towards the end of the song had a very quick solo it truly sounded beautiful. During the concert, anyone who attended the Football games this year would have had flashbacks to this past fall season. They performed the 2 by two compilations from the marching band, the whole thing was so upbeat. Every single performer was so focused on their performance. It was great seeing the members of the band get really into this song, they danced and mouthed the words to the song truly having fun with it. During the performance, there was an intermission where the drum line was left to play their classic walk-out song. They performed A Christmas Festival bringing the concert to a full circle with yet another amazing Christmas compilation. Filling hands with lyrics of popular Christmas songs, the notes filled the room. The final song sleigh ride was conducted by one of the seniors, Sara Willis. The song sounded amazing! The clips were very creative with Ben Peterson and Jackie Murphy banging their drumsticks together in a background battle. (No one was injured, it was all fun and games.) The whole performance was just as breathtaking. When asked about their performance one of the band performers said, “It was fun and brought a lot of holiday spirit and joy. We worked hard and were proud to perform.” Watching the band you could truly tell how hard they had worked to put this show together. Congratulations to the Point Pleasant Borough Band for the 2022 winter concert and good luck on their 2023 spring concert, I know it will be amazing.

“Good Morning” can simply make a girl feel special. Opening their phone not knowing what they will see, and “good morning” glows on their face. Butterflies arise, the sun isn't even up yet.

Weirdness is only originality with a twist. You decide to wear vibrant colors others might not, then someone likes it. The process repeats itself. Now you have to find a new way to stand out. Cause the world stole your style.

The night goes too long, you're working late. Time to clock out seems to come fast. The place is almost empty. Almost. One guy sits, not able to stop talking. You stay a little longer and hope he leaves before you. He creeps around, you let your hero know. Next you know like the bat signal he's there.

The wind howls, the light flickers. The night is strong, and beginning to be too long. You sit around waiting for something exciting. Yet the excitement never arrives. You end up talking the night away, time is up and you're walking away.

I write more then I read. I like the way the keyboard sounds. How my headache fades. How focusing on something so simple can be so fun. I write more then I read. Why read a book when you can write one.

He cares, He rubs my back when it hurts He holds my stomach when its aching If you ask me about my day… I’ll say… Good. Why? I woke up to a "good morning" and left over "goodnight".

I was taken, Kidnapped. Thrown in to a coop, Laying on the ground. Cold, Alone, I scream for help, No one comes. Dragged out feeling no pain. A knife to the throat in my attempt to escape. Gasping for my last bit of air. I wake up. Back in my bed. Surrounded, Sweating.

Its an out of body experience, My mouth is moving faster than my mind. I laughed more than I can process. My stomach hurts as if I’ve been doing sit ups for hours. I fall asleep still smiling

You walk into the doors of the Point Pleasant Borough lobby and are instantly welcomed by smiling faces and a gorgeous Christmas display. Christmas trees, flowers, Santa’s sleigh filled with presents to the brim. You then walk through the stage doors to the auditorium and are taken away by the decor of earthy garland framing the stage with candles and two pianos centered on stage with vibrant red flowers at the foot of them. Not only did the atmosphere take away the breath of the audience but the performers of the winter choral concert left them gasping for air. The performers have been preparing for the show for months on end for the one night showing that blew the crowd away. Getting everyone in the room memories to cherish. To quote a senior at the high school about her choral experience, Jackie Murphy said, “Performing with these lovely people made me realize that I have found my place at the high school within the arts and they continue to give me memories that I cherish dearly.” The performance was filled with many holiday favorites, watching the performance you could tell what ones the performers liked the best. During the song Cool Yule, they were all dancing as they sang. Smiling from ear to ear. You could just see by the emotions on their face how much they truly loved what they were doing. During Oba Se Je they had a senior, Nick Coppola play the drums as they all crowded around him singing. There was an amazing soloist during that same song, Leo DiRiocco, another senior at Point Borough. As he sang all around him his friends danced, making him smile and the rest of them smiling and holding back giggles as they tried to make each other happy. You could see their friendship on the stage. The song that stuck out to me the most was Most Wonderful Time of the Year, not only is it one of my favorites songs but they way everyone’s voices blend together was absolutely amazing. I truly wish that they had their own Spotify because I would have listened to them sing that same song on repeat for hours. The way they mixed their voices was beautiful. Even the lighting during the song was great, it was half red and half green, giving the full effect of Christmas right in front of your eyes. At the end of the song a few of the performers came to the front of the stage and slow danced together, it was sweet and so well performed. A sophomore at the school Megan Kulazewski told me what they thought about the performances, “The performances are always so high energy and you can really tell that everyone is engaged!” She was completely right about that, the person on stage seemed so happy to be there. I asked one of the performers her opinion after the performance on how they did, Alana Kulaszewski said, “I think our hard work paid off! It was so magical having the tradition again with everyone singing!” During the show for their final song the director Ms. Villa asked any alumni to come to the stage. Not only did alumni join but friends and family as well. Join the stage with open arms, hugging their friends and family congratulating them on how great they were doing as they joined the performance themselves. The crowd and performers came together to sing. They all became one, it was a beautiful way to end the night and send us all off for a happy holiday season. To quote the Point Pleasant Borough Performing Arts Production of Elf the Musical “the best way to spread Christmas cheer is by singing loud for all to hear.”