Rifle High School Drama Department’s first production of the school year will be “West Side Story,” presented in the RHS Auditorium on Nov. 20-22 at 7 p.m. each night.

Many people remember the 1961 big-screen adaptation set in the streets of New York City. The RHS version is best described as an artsy emotional roller coaster, set in modern times.

“It’s a realistic, classic drama,” said Hailey McDonald who portrays explosive Lieutenant Shrank. “It’s so cool, they’ll love it.”

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Some of the best-known musical numbers included in the RHS production will be “I Feel Pretty,” “America,” “Tonight” and “Cool.” Jennifer Calhoun lends her considerable talents as the vocal director to the show.

The lead actors in the show are Thomas Breslin portraying Tony, Megan McBride as Maria, Katie Vaccaro as Anita, and Bradie Kozera as Bernardo.

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According to Hailey, drama coach and director Scott Winter has put a lot of Broadway into the high school production, and has contributed much expertise in set design and choreography.

Ticket prices are $8/adults, $5/students with ID, and $5/adults 60 and over, and children under 5 will be admitted free of charge. Tickets may be purchased at Rifle High School, or call 625-7746 to reserve tickets.

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Kathryn Senor Elementary School’s annual Thanksgiving Luncheon is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 24. All parents and community members are invited to attend and have a real Thanksgiving lunch with the great kids at KSE.

Please call the cafeteria at 625-7705 if you would like a reservation for the lunch, which will be served from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. The cost is $3 for adults, $1.85 for children, and senior citizens may enjoy the turkey dinner for free.

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Four Rifle Middle School students won school-level competition in the second annual Reader’s Digest National Word Power Challenge, sponsored by the Campbell’s Soup Co.

Schools across the country participated in the kickoff for this year’s Challenge. Participating classrooms competed in the preliminary oral and written vocabulary questions. Rifle Middle School classroom winners took part in the oral and written questions on Nov. 10 to determine grade-level winners.

Each grade-level winner took a written vocabulary test which was sent to Reader’s Digest to be scored. Up to 100 of the top scorers in each state will be eligible to compete in the state level Challenge on Feb. 27. Last year Rifle Middle School had three students qualify for the state competition.

Grade-level winners at RMS were James Whitehead, fifth grade; Tanner Russell, sixth grade; Luis Iniguez, seventh grade; and Chris Gallegos, eighth grade.

The Reader’s Digest National Word Power Challenge provides an all-expense-paid trip to the national competition in March for state champions. The national competition is held in Colonial Williamsburg in Williamsburg, Va. A total of $50,000 in college scholarships and prizes will be awarded to the top three national winners.