The Bureau County Republican (bcrnews.com)
(Princeton High School and Logan Junior High)
Princeton, Illinois
MWAH! to visit Princeton students
By: Ray Moffitt for the Bureau County Republican
(published April 9, 2011)
Published by Terri Simon, Editor bcrnews.com
PRINCETON - Teen suicides, bullying, abusive relationships and deadly crashes involving alcohol and texting ... These are some of the real life and death issues to be addressed on Monday at Princeton High School by the MWAH! Performing Arts Troupe. Both of the 90-minute performances — 8:30 a.m. for high school students and 1 p.m. for Logan Junior High students — will be in the high school auditorium, located at 103 S. Euclid Ave. in Princeton.
Joining in the presentations will be School Resource Officer Alex Arauza of the Princeton Police Department who will discuss options for students being targeted for bullying, particularly cyber-bullying, as well as current laws in Illinois related to both bullying and texting-while-driving.
Among other issues will be the injustices incurred by those perceived as being different, the shooting death three months ago of a 9 year old whose life had been based on hope, and the sheer determination by a boys' varsity basketball team last month to continue an undefeated season following the cardiac arrest of their star player moments after he scored the winning basket in overtime.
The MWAH! ensemble includes Shawn Conerton, a junior at Putnam County High School in Granville, who will speak about the death by suicide one year ago of a classmate, Arie Boggio, whose mom may attend the Princeton performances. He'll then dedicate a song in Arie's memory.
On a lighter note, a number of the high school's Operation Snowball members will join the MWAH! troupe in a hip hop dance finale, having rehearsed together on Sunday evening after a potluck dinner prepared by the Snowball students, who are the lead sponsors for the troupe's visit to Princeton, along with the various members of the Community Partners Against Substance Abuse Coalition (CPASA). The name Snowball originates from the idea that if a single person chooses to make changes within himself or herself, those changes may impact other people – a Snowball effect.
The essence of the 11-member MWAH! ensemble - an acronym for Messages Which Are Hopeful! - is real life drama combined with contemporary music, along with lots of audience interaction. An overall focus is what's happening with today's youth and their families, and a common thread is choices and the importance of making the right ones.
Troupe members, who range in age from 11 to 20, attend 11 different schools, both public and parochial, and they live in nine cities and towns in Chicago's western suburbs as well as other communities across northern and north-central Illinois.
For more information about the MWAH! troupe or to book a presentation, the troupe's director, Ray Moffitt, may be contacted by phone at 630-993-0003 or via the troupe's website contact page at Contact.
The not-for-profit ensemble is affiliated with Kids Do Count Inc. and the Chicago Area Project, a grass-roots service and advocacy agency based in downtown Chicago and part of an Illinois-wide community services network targeting at-risk youth. That network includes the Youth Service Bureau of Illinois Valley, which provides services throughout six counties, including Bureau.
Assisting CPASA in the planning for the performances have been Barb Schmidt, principal of Princeton High School, and J. D. Orwig, principal of Logan Junior High School in Princeton.
The lead coordinator for CPASA has been Dawn Conerton, Drug Free Communities Grant Coordinator with the Bureau/Putnam County Health Department.
