With the onset of 2014, everyone eagerly anticipates what this year will bring. Some students have ideas in their minds of what they wish to accomplish this year, others have jotted down lists of their “New Year’s Resolutions”, and still others anticipate exciting lifetime events.  In the arts, there are many interesting options for entertainment.

Despite new releases of films during the final weeks of the year, many new movies debut before the summer. Popular titles and expected box office blockbusters include Marvel films’ Captain America: The Winter Soldier which arrives in April, and Guardians of the Galaxy, opening in July. During the spring season, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 will introduce us to new characters and 300 Riders of an Empire will return, seven years after its previous movie, Film 300.  In June, Transformers: Age of the Extinction will reveal its new cast and Asian locations. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, the sequel to The Hunger Games, will arrive in theaters in November. The Hobbit: There and Back Again and Dawn of the Planet of the Apes will also appear on the movie scene this year. The options seem endless for movies in 2014.

Television viewing welcomes new seasons, such as Season 3 for Sherlock, Season 4 for Downtown Abbey, and Season 9 of How I Met Your Mother. The return of The Big Bang Theory, Grey’s Anatomy, Two and a Half Men and American Idol occur in January.  Doctor Who, Pretty Little Liars and New Beginnings return as well.

February’s television highlight will begin with the opening ceremony of the 2014 Olympic Games on February 6 and occupy prime time through the closing ceremonies on February 23^rd.  More than twenty-five thousand athletes will participate in this 22^nd winter Olympics in the host city of Sochi, Russia. In total, ninety-eight events are scheduled among fifteen different sports. There are three skating sports, six skiing sports and two bobsled sports, curling, hockey, luge and biathlon. Twelve new sports will debut, including slopestyle snowboarding and slope style skiing where tricks are performed on a mountainside rather than in a skate park. Half-pipe skiing resembles half-pipe snowboarding and snowboard parallel slalom resembles slalom skiing, where the fastest times on two runs determines the winner. The new sports of team figure skating competition resembles the team gymnastics competition of the summer Olympics. Team relay luge and mixed relay biathlon also involve the entire team concurrently as the individuals are performing for themselves.

Students are looking forward to some interesting personal experiences. Tenth grader Grace Zhang is most looking forward to travelling while Coco Wander is excited to learn to drive. Pano Souralis is excited about participating in SCMEA as well as attending a Billy Joel concert at Madison Square Garden. Eleventh grader, Niyati Desai, anticipates watching Andrew Garfield in Spider-Man 2.

Ward Melville High School features its own students in numerous musical events. On January 9^th, the orchestra and chorus perform in the winter concert, the band’s concert is the January 16^th and the wind ensemble performance is January 18^th.  A special concert featuring the teachers of current music students will take place on January 30^th. The LIFSA concert is scheduled for February 2^nd at Ward Melville while SCMEA jazz festival occurs on February 8^th at Sayville High School and SCMEA concerts for Divisions III and II will be on March 8^th and 9^th respectively. February 28^th showcases the Tri-M Scholarship concert.

The Ward Melville High School Players will showcase Murder-Mystery dinner theater on February 13^th, Comedy between May 1^st and May 3^rd, and the one-act festival May 29^th through May 31^st.  Their final performance, evening of comedy, will mark the end of the thespian year on June 12^th and June 13^th.

This year of 2014 offers exciting artistic events, ranging from thrilling movies and entertaining television, to live musical, vocal, and theatrical performances, featuring Ward Melville students.