Six students from the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Visual Arts Department have been honored at the annual Boston Globe Scholastic Art Awards, including one who earned a Gold Key, the highest honor.

“There are a ton of competitions out there, but this is the big one we focus on every year,” said Paul Brissette, chairman of the high school arts department. “For them to get recognition on this level is great.”

If it is true that convention is meant to be defied, Elaine Barse could write the book. A top-tier college graduate who chose the life of a ski bum over graduate school in her post-college years, today Ms. Barse owns The Green Room, the popular surf, skate and clothing store on Main street Vineyard Haven.

The tap shoes are on, the ballet slippers tied and the members of the chorus line are ready to kick their heels high.

And on Thursday night, they will do so as the curtain rises at the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Performing Arts Center for the opening performance of A Chorus Line, the longest-running American musical on Broadway.

I threw in the towel on Martha’s Vineyard winters 10 years ago and never looked back. I traded in the gray Januaries, the icy roads of February and the interminable crawl through March first for the white winters of Concord and later for the damp, slushy ones of Providence, R.I.

The holidays are over, the snow has blown in and the slow crawl to Memorial Day has begun. There is less work available and fewer options for weekend fun.

Rather than fall victim to the winter blues, however, Islanders from Edgartown to Aquinnah are starting to plan their warm-weather getaways.

“It’s nice to break up the winter, to get an infusion of sun,” said Clarissa Allen of the Allen Sheep Farm in Chilmark.