Written by Kevin Myrick, Rome News-Tribune Staff Writer
Kindergarten and pre-first grade students from Darlington School were met with a standing ovation from family, friends and students from the Upper School today after they finished their second performance of "
The Awesome Life,” the students' spring play.
Janice Cox, pre-first teacher, wrote the play in honor of the retirees, and said the students worked for two weeks learning their lines and the words to songs after spending two days writing the play.
"We put on two plays a year,” Cox said. “One is always at Christmas, which we perform for senior groups, churches and the students.” The other play, Cox said, is performed in the spring, adding that she likes to include lessons in the play “so the kids get something out of it.”
This year’s play was written in honor of George and Betsy Awsumb, Pat Waddell, and Tollie Ross, all of whom are retiring after 140 years of service to the school. The eight-scene play chronicled the teachers' lives from their birth, heralded by Tate Roberts dressed up as a stork, to the their years as teachers at the school.
Cox even wrote a scene that included Elvis. She said she wanted to use music the teachers grew up with. “The children got a big kick out of it, too,” she said. “And of course they have no trouble being 'all shook up.'”
Pat Waddell, who has served at the school as a math and science teacher for 21 years, said she finally came to the realization she was retiring at the end of the play. “When they first got in that plane and started going, it finally hit me that I was leaving,” she said.
She added that she thought the tribute to her years of service was sweet and wonderful. “Janice Cox is so good to write these plays,” she said. “It was just an honor to be the subject of one of them.”
