The tradition of juniors making a documentary about alumni for their yearly retreat returned this year for the first time since COVID. Over Thursday and Friday, juniors crafted short videos about success, what it means to Latin alumni, and how they define it themselves.
Thursday started at 8:45 a.m. with breakfast in the Learning Commons. After enough eggs, bacon, and pancakes to power students through the day, the junior class split into randomized groups to interview alumni around the city.
My group spent around half an hour drafting some questions for our alum, Tova Wolff ‘09, director, producer, and co-founder of the theater company Refracted. Once we had a game plan, we took the CTA to The Den Theater in Wicker Park.
Our group collected plenty of interviews and footage for our documentary, taking the chance to ask Ms. Wolff about her journey at Latin, her work with theater, and her reflections on the mechanisms of success.
Junior Izzy Schafer was one of my fellow interviewers when we visited Ms. Wolff.
“It was really amazing getting to talk to someone that works in the industry that I want to go into,” Izzy said. “Although she works on the directorial side, it was fascinating to get a look into the Chicago theater scene through the eyes of someone that started at Latin.”
Our group ended our time at The Den with a theater-style warmup where we connected with our group and analyzed our presence in the theater space.
Back at Latin, we searched the fourth floor for the right lighting to film our individual reflections. Once we had all of the clips we needed, some group members edited them while others worked on finding music and making storyboards. We ended our day with a completed draft of the video and even some time to spare for fine-tuning on Friday.
The next morning, after a short breakfast, we took a pause on our documentary to compete in the Advisory Olympics, where advisory groups collaborated to build spaghetti-and-marshmallow towers, play rock-paper-scissors, and race across the gym while completing various tasks.
The Olympics broke off to allow for final documentary edits and then presentations, and then, of course, announcements of the Olympic victors.
Each of the films shined a light on what it means to be a Latin alum and gave our grade deeper clarity on their personal definitions of success. Many alumni referenced happiness, public service, and collaboration as part of their framework of achievement.
(And, in case you were wondering, history teacher Matthew June’s advisory—of which I am lucky to be a member—took the Advisory Olympics crown.)
