BY GIOVANNA DEXTER, Freshman
BLYTHEWOOD‐ BHS Drama teacher Sandra Dietel sits in front of the nurse’s office, working on her laptop. The area is loud and crowded with teenage voices, not the most ideal workplace.
Dietel wears her dark hair at her chin. She is focused, but passionate about her craft, and her smile is easily heard in her voice.
It is her turn on lunch duty, but even now, she works. Dietel is from Florida, earning her undergraduate degree at the University of Florida, and later, her graduate degree from the University of South Carolina.
She has been involved in theater her whole life, but a drama teacher wasn’t always her first choice.
Dietel first struck out as a social worker, but then realized her true calling when she worked on a theater program for troubled kids. That was when she returned to school to get her degree in teaching theater.
“I would say the most rewarding thing is the relationships I get to make. We work really closely together, and we work hard together, so that’s really cool,” she said with enthusiasm.
Dietel says time is often an issue in her teaching.
“The hard thing about being a theater teacher is that productions take so much time,” she said, her voice tinged with stress. Even now, with the cancellation of “Hairspray” (the flood made the deadline for the performance impossible), the clock ticks against her.
South Carolina has a state festival hosted by the South Carolina Theater Association. Its purpose is to bring theater enthusiasts of all types together, from high school and college students, to theater professionals.
Within this festival is the High School One Act Play Contest. It’s a festival and a competition in one, where students from all over the state come to compete in and watch plays.
This isn’t Dietel’s first time in the ring, either.
“The first year we placed fourth in the competition, and last year we placed second. We got to represent South Carolina in the regional, and that made me really proud,” she grinned at the memory.
With the recent flood in South Carolina and the many days and hours off school, Dietel is forced to squeeze as much practice in as she can for her class, from the minutes before school, to the hours after, and whenever she can in between.
“At the moment, I don’t have a lot of time to do a whole lot. I’m pretty much here all the time, but I like the outdoors,” Dietel comments on her preferred hobbies of canoeing and hiking.
Her fingers fly across the keys. Preparation for the contest is far behind, and there is no time to lose.
The hallway still ricochets with voices of which belong to those also trying to meet deadlines of their own. They all have a paper to turn in, a test to study for, or a meeting to attend.
Even now, she works.
