Rachel’s junior year seems to be on the path of Scotty’s Warp Speed!  I don’t know if Rachel has a bucket list but she did indeed add one of her dreams to her resume last week. She worked hard, she prayed hard and she was cast in her high school’s Julius Caesar! Her excitement is clear in this video clip:

Julius Caesar Cast List

We expect Shakespeare will never be quite the same!

This is not Rachel’s first experience with Shakespeare though. Her English classes have required her to read all or part of Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Hamlet.  I will admit that the first time she was given a Shakespeare monologue to memorize for one of her acting classes, both Jonathan and I were more than a bit skeptical. Her acting teacher said he really believed she could do it. We have always been willing to give it a try.  We would much rather have high expectations and “give it your best shot” mentality.

We came up with a plan for helping Rachel learn her lines which usually includes a dry erase board, an iPad,  practice, practice, practice. Each time, Rachel has been successful in completing the assignment, in doing her best.  Sometimes it has been very hard, and there have been moments when I wondered what we were thinking but in the end Rachel got it done.  She is visibly proud of herself for this accomplishment.

Yes, we are proud of her for memorizing monologues, working hard and getting a part in her school play.  More importantly though, Rachel is happy and to quote her, “I am honored to be in a play with my friends at my school.”