The lights dim, pencils are poised at the ready over feedback sheets, and a hush falls over the crowd. It’s EoL season, and IDEAS Academy students are ready to present their work from the last semester and provide feedback to their peers. Because of the number of EOLS this semester, the event now spans from Monday through Thursday, with Monday being added into the schedule to showcase student films.

Kicking off presentations in the John Michael Kohler Arts Center theater was sophomore Cassie Grande, with a presentation about fire safety. Grande was inspired to create her project after the fire that happened in Sheboygan Falls. To showcase her learning and teach her audience about fire safety, she created a ‘set’ with different rooms and scenarios to make her audience think about how they would have to react in different situations. She ended her project by getting her audience involved with fire safety themed Jeopardy.

From fire safety, the theater’s presentations moved to a song from the point of view of the mother of JonBenét Ramsey, a project that combined music and visual art, and a love song written completely in German.

One of my favorite projects from yesterday was entitled ‘Underground BURNalism’, a project about alternative journalism by sophomore Casey Jordi and junior Lydia Waniorek. They began their presentation with asking the audience how media can be biased and how that bias can affect the people who are consuming media.

No two projects from Tuesday were the same, and every student who presented brought a new and interesting perspective to their project. EoLS will continue on Thursday, May 26 at Jake’s Cafe and the John Michael Kohler Arts Center from 12 to 8 pm.