{"id":13093,"date":"2019-04-18T18:08:08","date_gmt":"2019-04-19T00:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/?p=13093"},"modified":"2019-05-02T18:40:52","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T00:40:52","slug":"an-ark-and-ants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/2019\/04\/18\/an-ark-and-ants\/","title":{"rendered":"An Ark and Ants"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mckenzie DiLeo and her ants are marching one-by-one toward a hopeful victory.<\/p>\n

DiLeo, a senior and one of the six directors of the womens\u2019 social clubs Ju Go Ju ( JGJ) and Ko Jo Kai (KJK) and men\u2019s social club Sub T-16 ant-themed Spring Sing show, returned to the role of director this year. DiLeo was previously a director for the clubs in 2017, when her Noah\u2019s Ark-themed show, \u201cRock the Boat,\u201d placed second overall.<\/p>\n

\u201cRock the Boat\u201d won three of the four major judging categories. The show won first for visuals and staging and tied for first in entertainment. The show did not, to DiLeo\u2019s surprise, place in the music category. When the scores were totaled,\u201cRocktheBoat\u201dslippedtosecondplace,losingto women\u2019s social club Delta Gamma Rho and men\u2019s social club Omega Phi\u2019s cow-themed \u201cChicken Filet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t even realize there was a problem with the music,\u201dDiLeo reflected.\u201cWe knew we were really strong at everything else, and we were really hitting hard at our strengths.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the outcome, DiLeo said she was still thrilled with the show\u2019s final product, and took 2018 as a break from Spring Sing. She had no intention of directing again until a year later, when senior JGJ member Madison Ceurter approached her about codirecting. DiLeo and Ceurter had worked closely to prepare Ceurter for a solo role in \u201cRock the Boat,\u201d and Ceurter said she was confident she and DiLeo could work well together as directors.<\/p>\n

At first, DiLeo was uninterested. She was preparing for her senior year as a chemistry major and knew her course load would be rigorous. More so, she was proud of her first show; she had given it her all and did not think another show could compare.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the reservation: being able to handle it again with how much work it is, and then just liking [directing a different show] as much,\u201d DiLeo said.<\/p>\n

Ceurter and DiLeo continued to discuss the possibility of directing together, and eventually, DiLeo decided she was ready to jump back into Spring Sing. The pair was elected to the director roles by their club, and they immediately got to work with fellow directors sophomores Tori Fry and Lindlee Aspinwall from KJK, as well as sophomores Garrison Hendrix and Matt Ramirez from Sub T-16. Ceurter said she and DiLeo have worked to take the lessons they learned from \u201cRock the Boat\u201d to make this<\/p>\n

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year\u2019s show even better. For example, in \u201cRock the Boat,\u201d DiLeo\u2019s team choreographed a particularly challenging finale. This year, the directors decided to approach the entire show the way DiLeo had previously approached that finale.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery dance should be like a finale dance,\u201d Ceurter said. \u201cWhy not make it good the whole time? We both had that show, and it was good, so why would we do any less than that? We\u2019ve got to make it harder. We\u2019ve got to make it better.\u201d<\/p>\n

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As a two-time director, DiLeo said she has worked to ensure this year\u2019s show is as well-rounded as possible. \u201cI definitely think this time, 100 percent, we\u2019ve really\u00a0been aware of music,\u201d DiLeo said. \u201cWe were just so hyped up on our strengths last time that we didn\u2019t realize that. This time, we\u2019ve really made music a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

Junior KJK member Kally Byrd, who is participating in Spring Sing for the third year, said she has seen DiLeo\u2019s past experience directly benefit this year\u2019s show.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was already an amazing director, but she learned from her past experience and has made a point to grow in our clubs\u2019 weak areas,\u201d Byrd said.<\/p>\n

Byrd, a member of \u201cRock the Boat,\u201d said DiLeo\u2019s leadership had a major impact on her decision to run for KJK\u2019s director position the following year. With Byrd, the clubs\u2019 alien-themed show,\u201cHouston, We Have a Problem,\u201d won the John H. Ryan Sweepstakes Award.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw how much [DiLeo] loved Spring Sing and how much work she put into it, and I personally thought we should\u2019ve won [in 2017], so I decided to run for Spring Sing director to create a winning show,\u201dByrd said.\u201c[DiLeo] was a great example of a well-balanced, passionate, hard- working leader, and I really tried to channel those qualities while creating and directing our show.\u201d<\/p>\n

DiLeo\u2019s love of Spring Sing has not only influenced Ceurter and Byrd, but also JGJ, KJK and Sub T-16 as a whole. This year, there are 150 participants in the clubs\u2019 show. Seventy of those participants are upperclassmen that wanted to participate in Spring Sing for a second, third or fourth time. According to DiLeo, it\u2019s the largest show in Spring Sing history, and she could not be more thrilled.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great way for freshmen to stay involved with upperclassmen,\u201d DiLeo said. \u201cOur clubs know each other really well across all ages because I think Spring Sing keeps everybody together.\u201d<\/p>\n

JGJ, KJK and Sub T-16 are striving for a second consecutive win this year, and DiLeo is ready to take home the trophy she believes they narrowly missed in 2017. Byrd and Ceurter said a win for DiLeo and her ants would be more than well-deserved.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s put everything into this show while balancing a difficult major and a social life,\u201d Byrd said. \u201cShe is seriously a Spring Sing legend, and I will always look up to her and have so much respect for her.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mckenzie DiLeo and her ants are marching one-by-one toward a hopeful victory. DiLeo, a senior and one of the six directors of the womens\u2019 social clubs Ju Go Ju (…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15099,"featured_media":13094,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15099"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelink.harding.edu\/the-bison\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}