Don Lugo welcomes their newest Drama Director, Mrs. Deming, with open hearts. Annette Deming has achieved excellence by creating Quest News, an online newspaper, teaching journalism 1, media studies, as well as several English classes. She is also the class adviser for the graduating class of 2017. She has already made an appreciable impact at Lugo despite only being a part of the staff for three years.

Her drama career originated in high school when she attended Diamond Bar High School. Throughout those years, she was honored with the title of a thespian; however, she believed that her passion for drama would come to an end once she graduated. Little did she know of her future in teaching the arts after she graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree, two master’s degrees, and her teaching credential.

Once Mrs. Deming got the call to be a long term sub for Diamond Bar’s drama program, she was ecstatic to return to her old roots. She shared the drama room of her alma mater with her students and is very grateful for having met Mr. Kaitz during that time, whom of which helped her run the drama program while finishing up their musical theatre production. Deming created history at Diamond Bar by selling the most tickets ever sold for the drama students parody of SNL production, TNL, in which they made over $3,000.

Like one of the many emotions experienced in drama, Mrs. Deming felt heartbroken when her time at Diamond Bar came to an end. “When one door closes, another one opens,” expressed Deming.  Joy returned when she was asked to help create a Mass Communications Academy and take over the journalism program at Don Lugo. As if that wasn’t enough on her plate in her beginning years, she continually expressed how she never thought she’d ever get the chance to return to drama.

“When I think about adding drama to my plate for next year, I’m most relieved about Quest News…I’ve spent three years building that program and by next year, when I look at the staff, I think, they are a well-oiled machine now. They don’t need me to hold their hands anymore.”  Mrs. Deming’s vision for next year is creative and exciting.

The ideas she has seem endless as she shared her passion for drama and Lugo’s drama department. Her motto for all her activities is, “Go big or go home” and it truly describes the passion she has as a teacher. Don Lugo has a lot in store when it comes to experiencing the Deming force.

When asked about the expectations she has for the program, Mrs. Deming replied “I want to help re-build the program. When Ms. McCance retired she left a transition open between what was and what could be. Having Mrs. Herrera come in and try to move that forward in such a short amount of time, and then her sudden exit, left the program without any direction. So my expectation is to help the drama program find a strong new direction.”

Mrs. Deming, who is also the guru of public relations and brand imaging, has a large task in front of her, but if she continues to build the drama program with her passion for drama and teaching, Lugo and the returning drama students are in store for some real surprises.