High School Ahead Academy Middle School

High School Ahead Academy Middle School (Houston, TX) for $25,000 to purchase new curtains for the cafetorium, lighting, digital theatre curriculum, and funding to take the students to see a live theatre show. The school is rather old, and lacks amenities that other newer or remodeled schools may have. The second year of its theatre program, the school has made incredible strides with the students, but does not have enough resources to put on a production that showcases everything the students and teachers have worked hard for throughout the year. Every student is required to take theatre at this school, yet with limited resources and no budget, it is hard to supply all of which is required to continue to build the program. This grant will enable the program, Express Yourself!, a year-long arts integration literacy project that collaborates theatre with ELA to improve literacy outcomes and support the arts on our campus. They will use readers curriculum, and performance to encourage students to not only enjoy reading, but immerse themselves in character study and development. This will ultimately improve standardized test scores, social emotional learning, and culminate into a larger final production run entirely by the students.