By Karla Perez
This past Friday, seventy students from Miami Lakes Educational Center (MLEC) made their way through crowds of raging hormones and excited squeals of other High School students to witness one of the most well-renowned musicals in American history: Alexander Hamilton. The iridescent lights of Adrienne Arsht Center shined on the performers and blinded all expectators and the harmony of all the music filled everyone’s ears.
But, wait—that never happened.
The seventy students—along with thousands of other excited students from other High Schools—never got the chance to watch Hamilton and indulge in the experience of a lifetime. It took only one person infected of coronavirus in Miami-Dade county to ruin the dreams of 70 Jaguars who have had their hopes up since last year.
Many spent money in formal clothes to wear to the theater; others memorized the lyrics to all 46 official songs of the musical; others screamed and even cried awaiting for the day to come—but, it never did. Only about 15 hours before the event were students told the trip was cancelled due to the Miami-Dade County mayor cancelling all mass gathering events.
“I discovered Hamilton in eighth grade and it became one of my coping mechanisms whenever something was going on. I get that this is a big issue but this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I’ll probably never get a chance like this or will even be able to afford going to see the musical in the future,” said Lee Miranda, a big Hamilton fan and MLEC Junior.
Students were hit at 2:15 pm on Friday with a text and a school announcement practically saying “We are sorry to announce that tomorrow’s Hamilton fieldtrip has been cancelled and therefore will not take place.”
“I know that me and a lot of my friends are just extremely bummed out about the situation as a whole—especially for people like me who were waitlisted and in the end were finally able to go; it’s disappointing to know that we were so close yet so far from going,” said Samantha Jimenez.
Despite the overflowing disappointment, many understand the weight of the situation so they’ve come to terms with the decision. Regardless, some people, including Mr. John Moffi (one of the teachers who was going to chaperone), have hopes that it will be rescheduled before this school year is over.
“They have to weigh the benefit to Hamilton with the fear of anyone getting sick. You have 35 schools and 2,200 kids and chaperones, and if I as John Moffi—the person in charge of this and chaperone to these kids—think it’s not safe then we can’t go,” he said to The Harbinger.
“I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t disappointed, but there’s a part of me that always knew this was a possibility. [The people in charge of the Hamilton production] understood what everyone would feel if the event were to be cancelled, but they were talking last night in a meeting about the possibility that this could be cancelled and that it’s hopefully rescheduled before the end of school,” he continued.
As of now, the reality is that no one knows what’s going to happen with the thousands of Hamilton-hopefuls—whether it is rescheduled or not, it didn’t happen.
But, there’s always a possibility that the picture of seventy MLEC students making their way through Arsht Center will become a reality.
Who knows? Maybe we will live to see our glory.
