Walking into the historic Missouri Theater, you’re surrounded by screaming True/False volunteers dressed in flamboyant costumes cheering you on as you enter. As you approach the red-carpeted, majestically decorated venue, you hear a mariachi band playing in the lobby and soon see three musicians playing energetically as they serenade you and your classmates.  
After the energetic introducion, you enter into the main theater room and find yourself swallowed up by a sea of high schoolers trying to find their friends, excited to play hooky and watch films.
Once you stumble to your seat, you look up to the front stage to see another band, “Bella Donna,” playing an upbeat jazz tune as the talented lead singer croons about her lost loves to loud teenagers focused on anything else but decorum.
The lights dim eventually and the movie, “The Bad Kids,” starts. To your great dismay, the audience never truly settles down and there’s always a group in the back talking. While it’s frustrating and rude, you’re enraptured by the story taking place on the screen and find yourself able to drown out the annoying crude jokes of high schoolers in the background and focus on the magical reality of documentary film.
After the amazing film, the two directors, Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe, appear from behind the rich velvet curtain shielding them from the bright lights of the stage and the roaring applause and whistles of excited viewers.
You get up to ask a question during the Q and A, but are crushed to find a long line of impatient students bidding their time until they can ask their question and be recognized by these two great filmmakers.
They run out of time two people before your spot in line and you’re sent back to your seat disheartened. The faculty call for students returning to school to leave quietly and as a result, the lagging teenagers, sad their time away from school is over, drudge out of the theater complaining about the unfairness of their foreboding return.
Waiting, you tap your foot anxiously as teens file out and wait for the supervisors to call the plans for the D.I.Y. day kids.
After the rambunctious crowd clears and the plans for D.I.Y day are announced, you find yourself full of the spirit of adventure, striking it out into Columbia’s beautiful and ‘alternative’ downtown area, ready to experience and create — all while getting to skip school.
The day started off with a showing of the film The Bad Kids. Afterward the high schoolers meandered to Rose Music Hall for pizza. From there people could walk to their specific workshop, such as screen printer shown here.
The day was full of True False hype with t-shirts and face-painting. Some students made accessories for the parade with available supplies. Another possibility was book-making. The process included screen-printing the covers and folding the pages, also known as folios. Students kept one; the rest were given out at the March march.
After the activities the DIY Day goers congregated at the Bridge and ate ice cream where a  variety of materials allowed for innovative masks for the parade and allowed for a way for students to admire others’ creations.
Some members of the marching band helped the small crowd prepare for the march by teaching them different songs and beats. The group then walked to meet up with the entirety of the March marchers. An abundance of costumes adorned those in the parade. Some get-ups were clever, while others verged on the mystical and/or cute.

Gallery • 17 Photos