If you’ve ever been to a Freshman Follies show, it’s easy to see how much work goes into the production. Everyone is constantly ‘cheezing’ (an intense, everlasting happy face), running around on stage, acting, singing, dancing, and sometimes even doing gymnastic moves! For each and every show to be a success, there has to be a driving force and an undivided focus.
The Head Director of this year’s winning team is Lauren Leto, a Mechanical Engineering sophomore from Plano, Texas. For her, the position of Head Director for Kappa Delta and Sigma Phe Epsilon’s Follies team consisited of keeping an eye on cast moral, scheduling practices, making sure that the cast was all able to keep their grades up during the rehearsal and performance periods, and many other behind the scenes items that often are forgotten.
After working with 10 other directors and 30 cast members an average of 20 hours per week leading up to the show, she said there was a feeling of pure joy when they were announced the winners. “All of our hard work paid off and it felt as though we had made a huge accomplishment,” she told me. “Tears fell as we heard the names, “Kappa Delta and Sigma Phi Epsilon” called. After taking many photographs and chanting our cheer, we celebrated as a cast, singing our show and celebrating our hard work.”
Participating in the show wasn’t all just happy tears and celebratory chants for Leto. She filled me in on how much she learned about leadership througout this process, about how it’s rewarding and hard work at the same time. “You have to make sure you have a sense of authority and power, but also a sense of friendship so that you are approachable. You also have to make sure you uphold a professional attitude in all that you participate in and make sure you are fair in all of your decision making.”
Having participated in Freshman Follies last year, Leto has now been on both sides of the stage. “Freshman follies is the perfect way for freshman to get involved with something larger than themselves,” she said. “You have the ability to build relationships as well as support a common philanthropy. You learn a lot about time management as well as teamwork and dedication. It is something I wish everyone had the ability to participate in.”