SPOTS members Biana Prescott, Graham Wilkins, Tanner Dorschner and Emma Neet look to recruit new members for SPOTS

NEW ULM — The Brown County SPOTS organization is looking for new members.

Every year, some members graduate and new members join. Currently, SPOTS has 15 members across Brown County, but the organization can always use more.

SPOTS stands for Students Performing on Tough Situations. For over 22 years, Brown County SPOTS members have created and acted in scenes on difficult subjects that students need to talk about. These range from bus safety for kindergarteners to dating abuse and drug use at the high school level.

After each scene, they stay in character to answer questions. Then they break character and talk based on their experiences. They hope to help other students make better decisions and think about their actions.

It is the conversation after performing the scene that creates the challenge.

“You need a sense of empathy and critical thinking,” SPOTS member Tanner Dorschner said. “Kids are asking you questions on big things and you need to come up with something on the spot.”

“The processing part is the challenge,” SPOTS member Graham Wilkins said. “You can practice a skit but you can’t practice processing what the scene means.”

SPOTS Director Sheldon Rieke agreed that interest in theatre was less important in SPOTS than being able to emphasize and communicate. He said a great deal of the training in SPOTS is training students to create and re-create skits.

With over two decades of history, SPOTS has performed many skits over years and many have to be updated for the times.

Dorschner said a SPOTS skit on bullying needed to be modernized because it did not reflect how bullying looked today.

Most of the skits performed by SPOTS are done at the request of area educators. The SPOTS member acknowledge the “You’re Responsible” skit is the most requested from teachers.

Rieke said the skit on responsibility has been in constant rotation over the years. The idea of the skit is to show students that behaving responsibly creates better outcomes.

In the last year, SPOTS performances have been limited due to the pandemic. Recently the group recorded a Zoom sketch that was a straightforward conversation about the pandemic and the impact on students.

As COVID restrictions are reduced, SPOTS is planning to hold more performances. SPOTS member Emma Neet suggested a skit on how to make friends. The pandemic has made it difficult for young people to make and maintain friends due to limited interactions.

For more information on how to join SPOTS, email Healthy Community Healthy Youth at hchynua@newulmtel.net.