For the 400 students currently enrolled in Tam’s Conservatory Theater Ensemble (CTE), new opportunities for leadership have provided a, “great reality check for a lot of high schoolers,” according to Membership Director and senior Robin Weisselberg.

Student leadership has always been a big part of CTE, but this year a formalization of student roles in business and company management has made nine student board members and seventy-four additional advanced drama students collectively responsible for the success and continued function of CTE.

The new system is the latest approach to giving CTE students real-life experience. Ben Cleaveland, 13-year drama teacher and Tam drama graduate said, “If you can run a theatre, you can do anything.”

So far, the new organization has met with success. “This new arrangement, with each Advanced Drama student assigned a company job, gets every single person involved in the running of our theater,” said Weisselberg, who is also a board member.

According to Weisselberg, in previous years a less formal, more volunteer-based system left some students struggling with a large workload while others had little to do. But with the new, more clearly defined roles, things are a lot more even.

Senior Emily Pathman, President and Administrative Director of CTE, agreed.

Unlike in previous years, when she could only volunteer to assist with the business aspects of the company, Pathman now has “actual responsibilities,” including leading the other eight student board members and a five-person administrative team and making further tweaks and improvements to the new leadership system.

According to Pathman, due to the rearrangements made in the past year, “CTE seems more like a professional theatre company, rather than a high school drama department, which is exactly what we want.”

Cleveland agreed with Pathman.

“Many alumni say CTE is the place at Tam they really got to have a say in their learning, and felt they were a significant part of creating a community and producing a real world product or project,” he said.

With increased student involvement in the financial aspects of the company, students now have the opportunity to gain more business management skills. “Everyone is more involved in the company side which I think is a really great tool to have after high school,” said Pathman.

Students advise teachers or directly make decisions on every part of the company, from publicity to design to finance. Collectively, these students hold around eighty application-based jobs.

“I have already learned so much about myself as well as how to run a business and manage others,” said Pathman.

Even though CTE’s new organization has been well-received by students eager for clearer direction and more opportunity, issues still remain. Bugs with communication and technology need to be worked out, as well as coordination of the large number of students, teachers, and guest artists involved with the program.

Pathman, is optimistic about the company’s ability to work past early problems with their organization. Flaws, she says, are to be expected, but CTE is working to move on: “We are doing the best that we can with this new system, and are coming up with ways to improve on what we have so far,” she says.

In addition, according to Cleaveland, the division of student labor still isn’t perfect.

Cleaveland’s philosophy is that these kinks in the system are all part of a learning process that will eventually lead to success— “the best learning happens when you, ‘Make as many mistakes as you can as fast as you can.’”

Written by Emma Talkoff. This article originally appeared in the October 2011 issue.