The thunderous cheering begins to blow the roof off the Dundee Caird Hall.  Arbroath High has been awarded yet another prize, one of a string of prizes they go on to win.  Chatting and laughing with my friends, I am not paying a lot of attention to the stage: after all, we were at the Rock Challenge Scottish Finals not to win, but to show the schools what Kemnay Academy was made of, and to have a good time.  We had had such fun during the day, dancing with other schools in the Morning Production Meeting, munching on pizza together before our final show preparation; we weren’t overly focussed on winning the most amount of prizes.  Being the lighting director and working on the administration side of Rock Challenge, I had never felt I was overly important in the scheme of things; there was dancing, choreography, set, costume all of which I believe were more important than me.  So when an award-presenter on-stage announces that the Lighting Design Award has been given to Kemnay Academy, our school erupts with screams and cheers of surprise and joy – and I was in utter shock.

I had won an award, completely off my own back, and it lifted the school’s spirits infinitely. Knowing we had made our mark at the Rock Challenge Scottish Finals was a great achievement, and furthermore knowing that it was me who had made that mark, boosted my self-esteem.  I realised then that no matter what role you play in a Rock Challenge performance, whether you are the main character such as the Dictator, or if you painted one tree on one piece of set: every single member is important, and without the joint effort of everyone we could never pull off the performances that we do.  Rock Challenge is and will continue to be a staple in the diet of the pupils of our school, from S2 up to their final days at school.  If nothing else, Rock Challenge helps you to take part in something great, learn new skills, and most of all, to make life-long friends.

 Eilidh Maclachlan

I was so lucky to get a main part in rock Challenge this year, but it is a lot of work.  You have to try to set an example and the standard you want everyone to reach.  You need to try your best all the time.  Also, I got to choreograph dances which I love to do.  I worked so hard this year trying to get the dances I helped choreograph absolutely perfect, and it paid off as the judges actually commented on one of the dances saying the choreography was amazing (this is down to Sarah Michie and Rachel Mackie too)!

I also put a lot of effort into the drama side of things which, in previous years, I’ve never really bothered to do.  That also paid off as we got a high mark in drama, so overall I am very proud of how well we’ve done this year!  I was also over the moon to get 4 awards and then to find out a week later that we made it to the finals even though we were fourth place because our points were so high.

The actual day was very emotional for me.  I hurt my knee only 5 days before the event so I had to rest it and sit out of the morning production meeting and the afternoon production meeting.  I also was so nervous that I ate almost nothing and had to rest and sleep for about half an hour to get my energy back.  Before going on stage I cried.  I’m not completely sure why but I think it may have been down to nerves!  And as soon as the lights went down at the end of the performance I cried again because it was all over.  Little did I know that it actually wasn’t!

All in all, Rock Challenge has always been a big part of my life ever since first year, and in my opinion this year was one of the best.  I a so proud of everyone and am very excited for the Scottish Finals in Dundee.

Catriona Sweeney 4Y