“Who went to State this year?”, I asked, and the line-up of students was wonderful, remarkable, and insightful. “Going to State” traditionally identifies high school students whose performances rise above local and regional competitions to a select number who qualify for best-in-the-state competitions. We are a small, rural school. Based upon enrollment, we are always in the smallest school divisions. Based upon “going to State” experiences, we are heavyweights with a high percentage of high school students who are staties. (I take a liberty to label students who go to a state tournament “staties”.)
It is March. For many, March is tournament madness, not just NCAA but WIAA. March is when the long winter of high school seasons rise to a finale of state tournaments. Boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys and girls hockey, boys and girls wrestling, boys swimming, and girls gymnastics find their frenzy in their respective state tournaments. Perhaps it is due to their being winter, indoor sports that causes such madness. When we mention going to State, a lot of folks think of March tournaments. Our line up of “statues” disabuses us of that thought. We are staties of all seasons.
There are high school trophy cases loaded with trophies and WIAA plaques for athletics. Some schools are considered dynasties in their sports. We have a dynasty in the theater; we dominate in One Act competitions. Our “staties” are students of “parts” who, under the direction of one of our state’s most awarded drama directors, each year find a new piece to perform. They perfect their parts and their roles and polish their total performance with the aspiration that they too will go to State. And they do. Every year it seems. And they bring home a full slate of awards from the WI Interscholastic Speech and Dramatic Arts Association.
Our musicians go to State in the WI School Music Association’s solo and ensemble competition. Standing tall in our lineup of staties are singers and instrumentalists whose perfected performances rank among the best the in the state. Many go to State each year of high school. We go to State in the arts!
Small business, the heart of our local economy, makes business and marketing education an important curriculum in our school. Perennially, we send students in their blue blazers and neckties to the WI DECA state competition. Of all our staties, it is the DECA competitors who have the strongest connection between their high school state tournament experience and their post-high school and career goals. They are coached by local businesspeople who see future business owners in the making.
The WASB student art competition has honored our student artists at the annual school board convention. An art competition is unique; it is not about Mano a Mano competition but about the quality of what a student produces. It hangs on a wall or on a shelf or stands on the floor and says, “look at this – I did it!”. The artist stands to the side trying not to smile too much.
When the WIAA approved 8-man football, our team of sleek, fast players shed long time slugfests with bigger enrollment teams and went to State in this new division. Immediately, we became football staties. There is something to be said for sending major sport teams to State. Schools pop their pride buttons over this.
Going to State also is podium time. Team and large group competitions have their award ceremonies but individual performance competitions place students on a podium to designate their personal awards. Track and field are primed for podium time and every year runners, sprinters, and jumpers carry our school colors to the state track meet. Sadly, our spring sport tournaments are held after the last of school in June and the joy of returning to school in triumph is not part of their celebration.
Finally, our lineup includes March Madness staties. After a long drought of staying home, our boy’s basketball team played in the state tournament. And yes, there is magic in going to State in March. It lights up the school and community like no other state trip can.
In reflection, going to State, like so many of life’s experiences is a fading glory. Kids in all competitive activities strive to go to their State, work for it, and then it is over. For a very few, scholarships and opportunities to continue in their competitive sport or arts performance in college derives from going to State. For most, it is benchmark memory, a moment of glory that will fade with time.
In the final analysis, does going to State matter? I think so. When a student commits time and energy to a specific competitive performance and works hard to climb from local, sectional, and regional competitions to go to State and does so, it gives that student an accomplishment that is remembered for their lifetime. We also know that students don’t get to State without the support of parents and family, and coaches and directors and teachers. At its core, it is talent development and a student’s opportunity to show a talent. Achieving a state-level performance is an achievement that matters.
It also is a bit of luck. Fifty-seven years ago, I hit a home run in a high school State Championship game. We won. My name is on a State Championship trophy. I smile when I think of it and thank a pitcher from Council Bluffs for a pitch with my name on it. A swing and a miss and he would have the memory and his name on the trophy. Being a statie and a champ, I share the excitement of every student in our school who has her or his own state moment.