For once, students at Churchill High School will be encouraged to go into a trance. As a PTA fundraiser, Russ Peak, a hypnotist and motivational speaker, will bring his show back to the school on Feb. 8.
Peak’s show last year at Churchill was a great success, so the PTA invited him back.
“It was so much fun,” said Allie Lavin, a Churchill senior who attended last year’s show and was brought on-stage.
Lavin was not completely hypnotized, but “there were definitely people who were,” she said. Lavin described one participant who was told to lie. Then when the high school student was questioned, she described herself as a 28-year-old millionaire.
Lavin conceded that she was probably under the influence of Peak’s spell, also. “There were things I did I wouldn’t normally have done,” Lavin said. For example, when Peak told those on stage to dance like ballerinas, Lavin did.