Grant will help Houston theater program

By CAITLIN SKVORC

Frontiersman.com

BIG LAKE — Houston Middle School theater productions are about to get just a little more technological.

Media skills and social studies teacher Beau Sawyer was recently selected by Voya Financial to receive a $2,000 grant as part of the New York-based company’s 2015 Unsung Heroes awards competition. Sawyer was one of 100 winners out of nearly 1,000 applicants nationwide to receive the award, and plans to put the money toward the purchase of a scrim — a kind of screen that can be used as a changing backdrop for theatrical productions.

Sawyer wrote the grant with Houston theater director Dina Atkin “to better support our school’s budding theater program,” he said.

“In today’s age of no funding for art we have to be creative in finding the most cost effective way to create backdrops that can add the desired ambiance to a show,” Sawyer wrote in an email on Friday. “If we had catwalks and a budget for artistic backdrops and stage pieces we would much prefer that, but even large schools with more money are turning to projection to save money. That allows for us to focus attention on the costumes and removable props and décor to create the more traditional experience.”

For the last three years, Sawyer said, the Houston Middle theater program has been financially supported solely by Atkin, who through connections at Colony High and Machetanz Elementary schools was also able to borrow wooden backdrops for Houston productions.

Upon receiving the award, Sawyer said he, Atkin and other staff members and parents were relieved and excited to know they would soon be able to support the program “with more than just (Atkin’s) pocketbook.”

And in fact, the theater program at Houston Middle is also an acting avenue for students at Houston High and Mat-Su Career and Technical High School — secondary schools that don’t have theater programs of their own.

“The high school students are a great example to our students demonstrating the importance of being involved and active … (in) the community,” Sawyer wrote.

The theater program also teaches students of all ages media skills through technical crew roles in running lights, sounds and videos in the productions, he said.

“Research says that 65% of jobs that our elementary students (will) have after college have not been created yet,” Sawyer wrote. “With the advancements our society is making in technology and (its) integration into our lives, it is vital that our schools are implementing technology and media based curriculum.”

Of course, the Houston theater program is an after-school activity, and naturally do not receive as much attention or funding as in-class learning opportunities and general school needs, he said.

“Extracurricular items are seldom in the budget for schools. Fundraising and staff and parent donations are the only way to create opportunities for students. This of course becomes difficult as we are all competing for monies from the same pot,” Sawyer wrote.

He also said that a general lack in art education funding is not necessarily a result of a lack of acknowledgement by the higher ups in the Mat-Su Borough School District.

“I believe that most people would agree that arts are important but when the budget has to be cut to make ends meet, it is often one of the first items red lined. I cannot pretend that I know how the decisions are made to fund which programs but I am sure it is a difficult and often arduous process for the district,” he wrote.

Which makes Houston students and staff all the more grateful for grant funding through companies like Voya, however (geographically) far-removed the funder might be from Alaska’s schools. Because investments in school programs like the one at Houston by education supporters inside and outside an institution often mean greater interest in a given program by its students.

“We believe that the more connected students are to our schools, the more ownership students will have in their education — the more ownership, the more success our students will have in school,” Sawyer wrote.

Atkin said the theater program is especially important to Houston students, who tend to come from families that don’t have the time or means to drive the students to other extracurricular activities, many of which occur in the Palmer-Wasilla area and further south.

“Some of the kids here, going into Anchorage is like a huge deal for them,” Atkin said. “Getting to see a play even is not something they usually get to do.”

But since Atkin started working at Houston Middle three years ago, more students have had the opportunity to express their creative side and play a part in a unique, after-school activity.

“Before school even started (this year) I had students from the middle school and high school asking if they can (participate),” she said. “There’s a lot of excitement.”

Eighth-grader Jasmine Nichols is one of those excited students. A basketball player, track athlete and Native Youth Olympics competitor, Jasmine said she has enjoyed acting at Houston as well, and think it a good outlet for many students.

“It keeps kids out of trouble, I think,” she said — a task made easier by Sawyer and Atkin.

“They’re just a blast being with and I think they’re amazing drama teachers,” she said.

The Unsung Heroes competition is not over yet, either. The 100 small-grant recipients are still in the running for larger awards of $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000, which Atkin said would allow Houston Middle to install lighting and sound systems in their commons area, which serves as the theater.

The next play at Houston Middle will be “A Christmas Carol,” which opens Dec. 10.

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.