At the end of January, the entire grade 5 class at The Harker School presented “Summer Daze: Scenes and Songs from a Rockin’ School Day.” Originally written by Janet Gardner, it was adapted for Harker by Jennifer Cowgill, the lower school performing arts teacher who also directed the play.

The musical starts in an “Average Family Kitchen,” and takes the audience through the beginning of the day (a scene featuring a song called “I’m in a Daze”), and then through a variety of classes, such as history, English, math, P.E. and choir. The song and dance performances accompanying the scenes each had its own unique spin on an aspect of a school day, with song titles such as “I Love My Locker” and “Cafeteria Confusion.” One of the big highlights of the play – which proved to be a delight throughout – was that the students portrayed Harker teachers in any scene a teacher was called for. For instance, Ashli Jain, grade 5, in the scene “The Beginning of the Day,” played Kristin Giammona, the elementary division head. Zohaid Valani, grade 5, portrayed Jared Ramsey, a grade five social studies teacher, in the scene “History Class.”

There were three showings of the musical, including a special performance for the rest of the lower school.