As the bright lights shone down with heat and clarity on roughly thirty high schoolers full of nerves and ready to make people laugh, sophomore Mason Yarnell took in the familiar feeling of being onstage. Though only having spent two years in high school, Mason has already more than dipped his toes into the theater department.

While having been previously involved in four productions, one thing Mason had never attempted doing was improv. So, in order to get involved with even more in the program, he decided to go out on a limb and try out for next year’s improv central team. While he still does not know whether or not he earned a spot on the team, he is happy he put himself out there in the first place.

“Whenever I would talk to people or tell stories in the past, people would tell me that I was funny,” Mason said. “They said I should try out and the worst that could happen is that I wouldn’t get in. So, I thought it would just be a cool experience to be on stage.”

While this is his first venture into the world of improv, he is no stranger to being on stage. In his past two years, he has been involved in both the school play and musical each year. He first started off as a crew member for the play “Noises Off” and had such a great time that he wanted to continue in the program. Most recently, he was a part of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat as a member of the ensemble. Mason cites this as being the most interesting part of his year here.

“[The most exciting part] this year was probably the musical,” Mason said. “It was really big, and that was really fun.”

Mason has spent countless hours preparing for the various shows, and in his words, his passion for theater is “more than likely” to continue to be pursued. Not only has he been having tremendous fun, but theater has also taught him some important life lessons.

“I have learned that you can just be yourself,”  Mason said. “You don’t have to pretend to be anyone else. Everyone is unique in their own way, so you should just accept that you’re unique, too.”

While joining the musical may have been the most fun and showy aspect of his second year in high school, Mason has found fulfillment in the entirety of sophomore year. With this year not being his first spent in the school, he felt that he was better able to enjoy what FHC has to offer.

“I think sophomore year went pretty [well], as [well] as a high school year can go,” Mason said, with only a few days left of his second year. “I feel like, since I know more about the school now, I can do more things.”

In addition to being exposed to more activities the school has to offer, Mason has learned something else from sophomore year: the speed of high school. The quickness of his sophomore year has enlightened him to just how fast of the few short years at FHC will go by.

“This year has taught me that high school is going really fast, faster than I thought,” Mason said. “Even though I am only a sophomore, when I think back [to] freshman year, that stuff did not seem that long ago, but it has been a full year since then.”

One difference that Mason, and his entire grade along with him, will have to face next year is the transition into becoming upperclassmen. As juniors, they will have to assume a position of being a role model for the grades below them.

“Yeah, I think [my grade] is going to have to step up into more of a leadership role because this year we weren’t doing that great with most of our [involvements in the Ranger challenges],” Mason said. “So, we need to be a good example for the incoming freshman and next year’s sophomores.”

Mason, for one, can’t wait to see what the future school year holds for him.

“[For next year], I’m probably most excited about being an upperclassman and getting to do more things and being able to participate more in things that I know more about now because of the past,” Mason said.