Innovation Tech Does Shakespeare! | Tech News

“Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” – William Shakespeare.  

For the past few weeks students at Innovation Tech have been practicing, memorizing, acting, in preparation for the English Speaking Union’s National Shakespeare competition.

The Shakespeare competition took place at Innovation Tech and the winning contestant, Avery Pearl-Frank had to fight off her nerves to pull out the victory.

“ I was super excited when I won. That whole day I was nervous to perform, and also nervous because I wasn’t sure how many people were performing… When I got up on the stage, all of my nerves dissipated. It felt so cool to be up there, showing a room full of people what I’d spent so much time perfecting,“ said Avery Pearl-Frank, the winner of the competition.

In order to practice for the competition, students stayed after school and studied their monologues. “The most nerve-wracking part was trying to memorize. I remember reading and rereading my monologue the entire day leading up to the performance. I was so scared that I would forget a line, but it all dissipated when I got on the stage,” said Pearl-Frank.  

Pearl-Frank will now advance to Syracuse Stage to compete against students from many other CNY school districts. If she wins, she will represent innovation tech in New York City as she competes against students from all over the nation.The final phase of the competition is the National stage which will be held at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Whether or not she wins the competition at the Syracuse Stage may not matter, because at the end of the day the prize wasn’t the only thing that mattered. “ I felt like I was on cloud 9. I had a burst of energy and a huge smile on my face. At that point, it didn’t matter if I won, it just mattered that I did my best and I was proud.“