Every team must work together as a whole unit and connect with one an-other in order to perform well. Well this is a story of a team that became more than a team, this is a story of a team that became a family. A family with four people that would be leaving in May, 2013.

01

Every family has a Dad or a Dad like figure. For this family it was the senior Zach Link. He fulfilled and portrayed the role of the dad without even real-izing it half the time. He was the first person to critique someone, but he was also the first person to find something that was done extraordinarily well. He held the cabinet position of Vice President for Mad Cow this year.

02

To balance the father figure, we have a motherly figure, a woman who took care of her children, a woman who would always provide a smile to those in need of one. For Mad Cow Improv, it was Stephanie Lachance. She held the cabinet position of treasurer for her senior year and she became the master of our finances. She played the role of Mom quite well. Being the perfect balance to the sometimes crazy Dad.

03

In almost every family there is that ridiculously fun aunt. The one who is always ready for a laugh, or the one who is always cracking jokes trying to make everyone else laugh. A person who can lighten the mood of any sit-uation with a few simple words. A person whose presence itself demands people to laugh simply due to her nature. Sierra Hoover, Mad Cow’s pres-ident for this year provided that role for us. An incredibly talented actor, especially when it came to improv, she was the perfect balance of serious and fun.

04

To counter the Fun Aunt, you have the Crazy Uncle, the man you aren’t sure if he is gonna kill everyone or hug everyone. Zak Schmidt played this role. He developed his own cabinet position calling himself the Czar. He was always a person who would laugh with you, or sit down and listen to you cry if thats what you needed. He played the role of protective big brother, as well as insane uncle that would go off the deep end in a scene simply because he decided it would be funny or a good idea.

05

Every Family has that jolly grandfather who provides for everyone in anyway he can and is the first person to laugh at any joke made, wheth-er it was funny or not. For us, that was our advisor Professor Stuckey. He was the best advisor we could have asked for, he came to almost all of our practices and every show. He was always laughing and always had a smile on his face. I can safely and surely say that I speak for everyone on the team when I say that Stuckey is as much apart of the team as any of the members.

06

We would be performing in the dark without cues or anything if it were not for our very special Techies. These two people have been instrumen-tal throughout the year in making sure our shows run smoothly and that our performances our well lit. They do anything and everything technical when it comes to their duties, be that printing off programs, operating lights, or editing our pre-show videos. Our Techies mean the world to us.

07

The three freshmen members, given the title of “noob” We thought the year was going to be difficult. Having to learn all the games for shows and learning the rules of improv. We thought the seniors were going to be stuck up and obnoxious, looking down upon us if we didn’t get it right the first time. We couldn’t have been more wrong.

08

As the year went on, I found that going to practice was one of my favorite parts of the week. As soon as I walked into practice for the several hours that I was there, I was in a world of my own. A world that was filled with people I loved being around, a world that was full of laughter and joy.

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During Practice there was never a dull moment. Something was always happening on stage and there was almost always a reason to laugh at the antics of the team. Even when someone was critiquing a scene it was still light hearted and high spirited. I never felt like practice dragged on, in fact quite often I felt like it ended too quickly.

10

Before we could practice any of the games we would play in our shows, we as the noobs, had to be taught the games. All of our members, especially the seniors did an excellent job of explaining and demonstrating the me-chanics of a game, and then encouraging us to play them and try them. Mistakes were encouraged in practice, because they helped us learn from one another. Something I respected and appreciated.

11

I always wondered what someone would say if a random stranger came into one of our practices and sat down to watch what goes on. I think they might either scream and run out or be too petrified to move. If nothing else, Mad Cow Improv was a family where it was socially acceptable to be weird. And we were. No one really questioned it, no one really cared. It was just an unstated fact that we were all pretty strange, and everyone was okay with that.

12

It was never hard to find a reason to laugh during practice, or even during a show for us. Rarely would we be watching a scene in practice without a smile on our faces. Or talking at dinner before a show and laughing about some of the incredibly ridiculous and sometimes stupid things we had done that week or in the past. The mood was always light and a laugh was never out of reach for anyone in our family.

13

Like any family we have times where we all go absolutely insane and de-cide to run around like chickens with our heads cut off. What I loved about our family is that when one person went on a downward spiral of crazy, no one else was afraid to join them. If one person did everyone fol-lowed and it devolved into a hilarious sense of chaos.

14

For all the times we were insane and crazy, we were also serious and dedi-cated to our art. Often we were critiquing one another, and trying to help each other improve and grow as actors and performers. We all understood we each had different backgrounds, we all understood we each had differ-ent strengths and weaknesses and we respected that. We understood no one was good at everything and so we took all critiques with a grain of salt and understood that if they were harsh, it wasn’t from a harmful place, it was for our betterment as performers.

15

When it was our time, as noobs, to step up and take a more active role in the team we did so happily. The most rewarding thing was seeing the ap-proval on the older members faces, particularly the seniors. Hearing the praise of a scene that was done well, or the feeling after having had a great show was the best in the world. Growing close to the seniors was the best reward that I could have asked for, and its something that I am so glad for.

16

I loved how close I and everyone else grew to one another. I especially loved how close I grew to the four seniors, these four people have defi-nitely changed my life, something I will be eternally grateful for. I think something I will miss the most about them is seeing them all act in a scene together, especially in our team’s favorite game Bucket of Death.

17

I would like to personally say that it was a privilege to have known the four graduating seniors, Sierra Hoover, Zak Schmidt, Zach Link, and Stephanie Lachance. It was a privilege to have known them, let alone act and perform with them. I found that to be the true source of joy.

18

Saying goodbye is one of the hardest things I think I’ve had to do all year. Seeing the Seniors after our last show of the year and knowing that never again would be we performing with them in this capacity. I was proud to be able to call them my teammates and friends.

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And so as the year ends so does our time with these four incredibly special and talented people. Four people I will never forget and four people that I cannot thank enough, or express in words how much they all mean to me. Rather than a long goodbye or a dramatic ending, I conclude with; Fare-well my friends and I’ll see you soon.

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