One warm afternoon in the spring of 1997, two extraordinary events occurred. That’s right ladies and gents, on May 9, 1997, the first U.S. ambassador since the Fall of Saigon entered Vietnam, and Clayton Kistner was born in Overland Park. Which one had more impact on the world as a whole? Many would argue the former, but I could put up a pretty great argument for the latter. Since entering this world, Clayton Kistner has matured from a preschool dropout (100 percent fact), to a budding senior class president and drum major of the esteemed Marching Jaguars. How did he become this way, you ask? Not without some elbow grease, and a lot of hamburger grease. In the coming months you, the reader, will get an inside look at the life and times of Clayton Timothy Kistner as he ventures throughout his senior year of high school. Topics may include, but are not limited to; theatre, band, StuCo, AP classes, college prep and last but not least, food. This is Clayton’s Catastrophic Column.

Now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s get to the good stuff. This week marks the beginning of the second most important time of the year: the musical. (For those wondering, the first most important is Christmastime, which far surpasses that of any musical theatre event.)  Your Thespians will be performing the Tony Award-winning musical, “Guys and Dolls.” Written a long long time ago by a man whose name I do not feel like googling, this musical tells the story of two kind-of young couples on their journeys to find love, with some gambling and Cuba in between. One couple, Sarah Brown (played by seniors Laci Moore and Michaela Mense) and Sky Masterson (played by seniors Eli Stewart and Adam Segura) find love in places they never thought they would. The other couple, Miss Adelaide (played by seniors Brienna Kendall and Savannah Rudicel) and Nathan Detroit (played by senior Austin Moores and me), found love a long time ago, 14 years to be exact, but Nathan cannot bring himself to make the jump to marriage. This musical will have you laughing, crying, crying again, then hopefully laughing again, all in the span of two or so hours. The show will run Sunday, Nov. 9 – Saturday, Nov. 15, so you can start lining up at musical director Jon Copeland’s door now, because we all know the tickets are going to sell out in two days. You might as well get a head start now.

Many more exciting events are happening here at the Valley, on top of those pertaining to the drama department. On  Tuesday, Sept. 23, right here at 5100 Monticello Rd., we will be hosting the Student Council Regional Conference. Now what does that mean for you as a student? Well, unless you’re a member of StuCo, pretty much nothing. You may notice a few strangers from schools around the area roaming our halls, but other than that, we’re gonna stay out of your guys’ way as much as we can. Probably the most exciting aspect of our hosting of this conference is that we have the privilege to host the keynote speaker for the day, Judson Laipply. Name doesn’t ring a bell? Don’t worry, I had the same reaction. Let me try to jog your memory. Think back to the days when YouTube was barely even a blink in the massive expanse that is the Internet. The days when recess still existed, and the Motorola Razr was the best cell phone you could buy. There was a video, published on April 6, 2006, that took the world by storm, called “Evolution of Dance.” A man wearing simple blue jeans and an Orange Crush shirt danced across a small stage, bathing in the spotlight as he nailed every dance move you could have ever conceived. Ring a bell? That’s Judson Laipply. He will be speaking to the attendees of the Student Council Regional Conference, and I can only hope that he performs that dance. Honestly, if he doesn’t I’ll be drastically disappointed.

What’s up next for Clayton Kistner, you ask? Well, I honestly couldn’t tell you. So, it looks like you’re just going to have to check back here every week to see Mill Valley from my perspective, and get the lowdown on all the happenings of this wonderful educational establishment. It’s gonna be a good year, and I’m quite excited to be able to share it with whoever decides to click on this blog. That is all.