Martinsville City Public School’s Performing Arts Academy aims to help students hone-in on their creative and performing skills while also teaching them valuable life lessons.
The academy is open to students from third to twelfth grade. Students must fill out an application and undergo an interview process for consideration. The academy as a concept has been around for years, but recently was officially named the Performing Arts Academy.
Karla Scales, choreographer, said the academy is all about offering an opportunity to help students “find their light” through all sorts of different activities and talents.
“We want our kids to find their own voice, and so we use the stage, where some students don’t necessarily want to be in the spotlight, but they have other things that they can participate in where they can show their abilities and their talent,” she said.
However, the lessons go beyond performing, according to music director Erika Becker.
“We also incorporate the reading, the writing, and the math piece, because there’s a lot of that that goes on behind the scenes with theatre. We also incorporate all of that, so it also ties in, and it’s aligned with what they’re doing in the classroom,” Becker said.
One of the goals at the academy is to help students discover talents and skills they never knew they had and help them hone-in on these skills.
“We had our builder come in and just start teaching kids how to use a ruler and do measurements, and during that entire process we noticed, ‘this kid really gets it. This is where she shines.’ Different aspects of what we do” help students “find their light. They find what they’re good at in different aspects, and some of these things you never would have known because they don’t do it this way in a classroom,” Becker said.
“Even when it comes to the play, you find people who are really good at acting, those who never really knew they had a singing voice, and it comes out. We just have a multitude of discoveries just because we give them access to so many different things,” she added.
The academy has already seen effects and growth in many different aspects of students participating in the program.
“Along with the academic progress, we also see socially. I have students in class that are completely silent, don’t say much, they speak very softly, and the Performing Arts Academy requires you to step out of your comfort zone,” Scales said. “I’ve seen students where students who barely said anything, didn’t want to speak up, their volume was just so low, now they’re speaking up a little in class. I can hear them, and they’re confident about the things they’re saying and they’re confident in the friendships that they’re making.”
Academy staff also noticed improvements in some students’ behavior.
“Some students have had behavior issues and now, because they’re in the Performing Arts Academy, they’re like, ‘No, I have to keep it together.’ And they meet that standard” of good behavior endorsed by the academy, Scales said.
“They do their best just to show that they are that amazing student that we know they are,” she added.
There are many different ways the academy staff strives to teach valuable lessons. According to Becker, no two days are exactly the same.
“There is no routine. No day is the same. It all depends on the demand, depending on what we need to work on or what projects we have going on. We have kids right now writing a script for a ‘Say No to Drugs’ commercial. No day is the same. You’re going to experience something different every day,” she said.
Students often engage in real world activities and projects, such as acting as Disney characters at birthday parties and helping film commercials for local businesses.
“We have students doing real world activities, where they are going out and actually doing jobs. So, we were asked to set the stage at a local dentist’s office. The students actually had to create, they had to draw out, they had to create a commercial and set the stage for a dentist’s office and then they delivered it and set it up for them,” Scales said.
The academy operates on six pillars: passion, courage, integrity, determination, dedication, and optimism. It encourages students to embody those characteristics and develop their skills in a safe environment.
“This is something that we push in front of all of our kids. One thing I love, which I believe our students have embraced, is at the end of every night, when we finish with rehearsal or once we finish with Performing Arts Academy, the students say, ‘in this place, in this space, we are safe, to always find your light,” Scales said.
Zoey Hannans, a sixth grade student who has been cast as Annie in Martinsville Schools’ upcoming winter musical “Annie Junior,” joined the academy out of a passion for performing.
“I joined last year because I really like to sing and I kind of got a main part last year too, but this year I did it because I really enjoyed it from last year. It’s really my passion to do this and then I just got the main role,” Hannans said.
The academy, she added, is a “fun and enjoyable thing to do” that teaches her how to project , sing, and keep her voice up.
Alex Butler, a senior with a passion for singing, said the academy teaches more than just performing skills.
“What I’ve learned is like normal life lessons, basically. Because not only are they teaching us how to improve our skills and everything, but they also teach us life lessons like how to time manage and things of that nature,” Butler said.
He has a message for anyone considering joining the academy.
“Join. It’s fun, but at the same time it’s also hard work and you can’t get more life lessons and you can improve yourself as a person,” he said.
Jyshir Plunkett, a 10th grader, also has learned valuable lessons from his time in the academy.
“I’ve learned to give the most that you have when you have the chance,” he said. “Because if not, then you may never have that chance again.”