Joshua Zuniga, Kevin Licona, Jhonny Rosario, Yolimar Torres, Ricardo Ortega and Mrs. Kostiuk guard the entrance of the “Green House” which is the cell wall to the Library Media Center. Photos by Jalen Maspono.

By Jalen Maspono –

The Library Media Center was transformed from a quiet place to study to a scene much more alive. Mrs. Kostiuk’s drama classes presented “The Living Cell” a play for all students currently enrolled in biology classes.

Written by the students themselves this year the play was about the life cycle, operation and function of a plant cell. “The Green House” was the theme of the day, which is a place that the plant cells can grow.

In a flurry of creativity the library was transformed into the various sections and functions of a cell. For example the cell wall and the cell membrane were located in the front doors of the library. Biology students were able to physically walk through the wall of a cell to experience the cells function and not just see it. Each drama student had a part and presented it in front of the biology students and teachers.

Since this is an election year, and to further aid in the understanding of the cell and government function, the students used the White House as greenhouse analogy to represent the various cell functions.

For example, the nucleus of the cell was the president. The vice-president was the nucleolus. The secret service was the cell membrane, the cell walls are engineers, while the DNA equates to the census bureau. The White House needs to be clean and that job is handled by the vacuoles. Golgi bodies serve as the mail room. The chloroplasts are represented as the Department of Energy, and the mitochondria are the cafeteria (food and beverage) services.

Beltre Tezyah, Shreya Rana and Dayshia Fernandez represent the function of the plant cell.

The idea of using analogy to help identify and teach the various cell functions was Mrs. Kostiuk’s. However, the students themselves wrote and planned the entire production. They had to research both the functions of a cell and its parts, and the various ways they could be represented as parts of the White House and executive branch.

The idea of this play was for the biology students to experience a cell and not just read about it. The kinetic array of the cell functions allowed students to understand the functions of a cell more deeply.

“I feel like I understand how this all works now,” said one anonymous biology student. “Plus, seeing the play was fun. I wish all classes could be like this,” he added.

The purpose of this even was to allow drama students to develop their craft, by helping biology students understand a complex life function. However, seeing the way students interacted and enjoyed the production, the value of this program is greater than just educational.