On September 1, 2022, Lincoln East High School had their 2nd Drama Club meeting of the 2022-2023 school year. Their focus for this particular meeting was costume creation and other fun simple activities to get to know each other better. Many members bleach dyed their own t-shirts with fun theater related designs and stencils, while others played various board and card games to socialize. Ella Swank, senior and president of Drama Club could be seen running between arts & crafts and social games, enjoying all of the aspects the meeting had to offer.

“Being president is a lot of work, but I have a great team of officers who make the workload a lot easier,” Swank said. “It’s a lot of stress and a lot of pressure, but honestly it’s really rewarding to see everybody have fun.”

Being in the position of president, Swank doesn’t deny the amount of work that goes into each meeting. She is constantly coordinating and communicating with Drama Club directors, Melissa Walburn and Helen Cooper, as well as the rest of the student officer team consisting of seniors Harper Allen and Aderha Leypoldt, and juniors Berkley Nielsen, Ash Nabb, and Ava Chapin. The passion that Swank has towards theater doesn’t go unnoticed, and often feels infectious. As someone who has been doing theater since 7th grade, Swank is always spreading knowledge and uplifting actors and theater technicians at East whether they are new to the program or not. She describes Drama Club as a welcoming, accepting place for all and encourages anyone interested to join.

“It’s a safe and fun environment,” Swank said. “You don’t have to like being on stage, you can just come and have fun and learn about opportunities, workshops, and auditions.”

Drama Club is a space where people from all aspects of theater can come together to learn, create, and simply have a good time. Swank’s favorite thing about theater is having the opportunity to leave everything at the door and being able to express her true self along with friends.

“Just do it,” Swank said. “Come join us, be yourself, we love everybody here. If you have any questions or concerns, reach out to me or any one of the officers and we can help you out.”