On Thursday March 3rd, eighth graders who were accepted to Community High School came to CHS to watch Tuned In, which addressed their nerves about starting high school. The show was preformed by the Stapleton forum and a few others.

The students in the show got their parts about three weeks before the show, and practiced nonstop for the March 3rd show. In addition to forum rehearsals, they also rehearsed before school and during their lunch periods. The Stapleton forum preforms the show to eighth graders every year.  The show mostly stays the same, however, they do change the show a little bit from year to year. Casey MacDonald, a freshman in the Stapleton forum was a performer in Tuned In. “We just wanted to let the eighth graders know what Community is all about…we weren’t really trying to recruit…we were just trying to welcome them,” said MacDonald. MacDonald recalled the show that was put on for him when he was in eighth grade, and remembered that the show was helpful to him in deciding whether to

come to community or not. “I liked what they had to say about Community,” said MacDonald.

A student from Forsythe Middle school, Sophia Camp, came to CHS on Thursday. “I thought [the show] was pretty cool, but I didn’t really know much about [Community].  And I heard the druggie things, but that didn’t really make me not want to go,” she said, referring to the common stereotype of CHS being a drug-haven. Camp also thought the stereotypes were accurate “[They were playing] the stereotypes of Community. But it’s just kinda nice that they cleared it up,” she said. Overall, Camp ”…really liked [Tuned In]. I was like ‘I really want to be in [the Stapleton forum]’,” she said.

Tuned In is all about letting the eighth graders know not to believe everything they hear. But, as MacDonald said, “Some of [the stereotypes] were very inaccurate, and some of them were accurate. But all those stereotypes happen in every school. So wherever you go, those stereotypes are going to be there.”