With the retirement of Geri Wharam, the theater department was left with a huge hole in their hearts. The role has successfully been filled by Ms. Bridget Rossmeissl, an alumnus from Sahuaro. She decided to go to the University of Arizona to be an elementary school teacher, but after running into a former Troupe 215 member, she decided to change her major to Theatre Education.

After attending the U of A, Rossmeissl did her student teaching at Empire High School for one semester. During this time she co-directed a children’s show, where the children wrote the play and her theater performed it for them. Along with the children’s show, she co-directed the musical Grease. Then she moved to Cragin Elementary School where she taught for three years.

At Sahuaro, Rossmeissl teaches beginning, intermediate, and advanced theatre.  “Drama is a class where students have to get out of their seats and do an activity at least one point in the class,” said Rossmeissl.

With this being her first year teaching high school and transitioning from elementary, she has already planned the year ahead. But even with the strategic planning, nothing ever goes exactly as planned in the arts. Luckily, her student aids come to the rescue; they help with the beginning classes and anything she asks for. “It’s really great and she made me feel welcome in the class,” said one of her aids, Taylor Reynolds .

Being a Sahuaro alum has been a weird transition from student to teacher according to Rossmeissl. She said that the hardest thing to get used to doing was calling her former teachers by their first name instead of their last. Mr. Marrs, a fellow teacher now a peer said, “When I first met Ms. Rossmeissl, I thought, ‘What will the urban dictionary tell me about this new drama teacher?’ Turns out Ms. Rossmeissl hasn’t done anything illegal enough to be noticed by the Urban Dictionary editions. So far, she seems totally radical, trippindicular, awesome, and hip to the max.”

“My main goal this year is to get people interested in our program and to grow our program.” She is open to student ideas and listening to what they have to say, incorporating it into class.