For most people, summer is the best time of year; it brings warm weather, long days, and minimal stress. For the fourth consecutive year, Catch a Wave is bringing this summertime feel to the halls of MHS; however, you may see a few changes this year.

Due to the graduation of the students who were most involved in the program, there was a lack of interest for students to put everything together at the beginning of this school year.  Thankfully, senior Austin Nudelman decided to step up to the plate and take over Catch a Wave, as well as coordinate with all of the clubs involved.  

“What really inspired me to revive Catch a Wave was that I was actually part of it last year and I performed with a group of people,”  Austin said.  “The year before that I just attended it but had a great time.”

This year, nearly the entire staff has changed, including the teacher advisers involved. After years of working on Catch a Wave, Mrs. Gale Domingo and Mr. Bob Hempel decided to move on to other ventures.

“Mrs. Domingo and I developed “Catch a Wave” over five years, and are happy to see it has become so popular,” AP Literature and SCALE Composition teacher Mr. Hempel said. “We’re excited Austin has continued the tradition, and we will definitely be in attendance.  All my time this year needed to focus on growing Team ECHO’s  numerous events, to raise awareness about environmental toxicity, including causes for cancer in children.  Mrs. Domingo and I still support Winthrop’s Cancer Center for Kids, in our collaboration with Mrs. Spagnolo, and MHS musicians, in a brand new ECHO sponsored event called “Five Alive!”  It will play on Friday May 5!”

That’s where Austin stepped in. “I went around asking teachers if they were interested and I finally got the Band teacher, Mr. Dwork, to help me run it,” he said.

This year’s event is 100% student-driven mainly due to the rough start that the club had this school year.  Though Mr. Dwork is helping out the whole CAW team, he is there to just advise and direct the students while Austin takes care of the rest.

“Austin has done the work, I have just been there to assist in any way he needs me,” Mr. Dwork said.

Changes are to be expected in the concert portion of the event, as well.  “Last year, there were more bands and heavier acts,” Austin said. “This year we’re focusing more on acoustic sets but we still do have some bands.”

Performance-wise, there were also changes involving who could perform and who could not. Auditions were held earlier this year and cuts were made; meanwhile, last year everyone who tried out for CAW got in.

Although it seems that things will be quite different when compared to events of the past years, Austin is doing all he can so that Catch a Wave remains Catch a Wave. “My goal is to maintain as much similarity to last year as possible but change whatever I must,” Austin said.

Overall, new club leaders and advisers are bringing change to Catch a Wave, but the message and intention of the event will remain: to raise awareness about childhood cancer and raise funds to save the lives of those affected.  Come on down to this exciting event on March 31 at 5:30. You’ll be sure to have a whale of a time.