By Harold Reutter
harold.reutter@theindependent.com

Print Story | e-mail Story | Visit Forums

Featured Advertiser

Independent/Scott Kingsley Kelli Raile sits in her room surrounded by pictures she has taken. She began the decorating with a border and it has expanded to cover nearly all her walls. Independent/Scott Kingsley Kelli Raile runs through boxes for track training in a hallway at Northwest High School. Raile also played volleyball and is involved with various choirs and the school's upcoming musical. Click Thumbnails to View

But Raile does not have the dreaded "senioritis," the malady of drifting through the final year of high school, merely marking time until going to college.

"I don't feel as though I have a second to spare," said Raile, who said she feels as though she is in a big transition year from high school to college.

Her activities include being on a winter/spring traveling volleyball team that is coached by assistant volleyball coach at the University of Nebraska at Kearney.

That means lots of weekend travel to cities such as Omaha for play on Saturdays and Sundays. Raile said her team event has a Friday, Saturday and Sunday competition scheduled for March.

"But I'm not sure that I can make that because of the school musical," said Raile, who is one of three student stage managers for the upcoming performance of "All Shook Up."

As stage manager, Raile is mic'ed up to the sound booth, where she helps tell the sound booth which mic should be switched on when a lead character is singing or talking.

She is also responsible for working with the student crew to get the set pieces, or scenery, on stage in a timely fashion. Raile also works with the characters who are off-stage, making sure they make their entrance on-stage at the right time.

While those cast members wait, Raile will also keep an eye on them to make sure they remain quiet, sometimes the hardest job of all.

Being stage manager for the musicals can mean being present at both afternoon and evening rehearsals.

Raile also is stage manager for the 14 Karat Gold show choir, which is in the midst of its season. That job includes the same responsibilities for getting sets and singer/dancers onto the stage, with the added job of helping with the rapid-fire costume changes back stage.

Raile agrees that a good description of the 14 Karat show is that of a mini-musical, all speeded up. She noted 14 Karat Gold rehearsals are 7 to 10 p.m. Mondays and 6:45 to 8 a.m. on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Raile is a member of Bella Voce, the jayvee show choir. She is president of the choir and also a section leader.

The Northwest senior is an officer for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which, true to its name, meets once a month for fellowing that includes eating, talking and playing games.

Raile also is a member of the National Honor Society, which has regularly scheduled meets and helps the Bloodmobile as well as other community service projects. She is the secretary for the Northwest Student Council, which meets once each month or twice a month if there is a big project the organization is doing.

One of this year's projects was a fundraiser to help with medical expenses for a Northwest graduate who was very seriously injured as the result of a four-wheeler accident.

During first semester, Raile took a college English composition class that met on Tueday and Thursday nights at Central Community College. Now, she is taking an 80-minute speech CCC speech class on Thursday nights. That means she will have six hours of college credit when she graduates.

Raile is thinking about becoming an education major, so she is taking a career explorations class where she goes to Engleman Elemenary two or three times a week to work in a second-grade classroom.

Finally, she is doing after-school conditioning works three afternoons a week to prepare for track season. Her goal is to make the state meet.

Raile accomplished that goal last year, when she competed as part of the 4X100 relay team, but she missed out when she tied in 300-meter hurdle competition for the right to go to state.

Because of the tie, that decision was made by coin flip.

But what is occupying Raile's mind more than anything else is where she will go to college next year.

"I really like (Nebraska) Wesleyan," said Raile, who said "it just felt right" when she made a visit to the campus, where she saw a small school with good teacher-student ratios.

But Nebraska Wesleyan is a private school and Raile needs to know what type of financial aid package she might receive to attend there.

Meanwhile, she has been accepted at UNK, the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. She also plans a visit to Central Community College-Columbus.

"They've asked me to play volleyball," said Raile, who said she also would have the chance to play volleyball at Nebraska Wesleyan.

"I love it," said Raile of the sport where Northwest finished as the runner-up in last fall's State Championship. "I can't let it go."

Even though she is looking forward to college, Raile also finds it hard to let go of Northwest.

"High school is really fun," she said.