4/28/2023
Education and Outreach
As a nonprofit, The Smith Center serves as one of many organizations nationwide that provide the Disney Musicals in Schools program, which helps at-risk elementary schools create their own musical-theater programs. At no cost to schools, the center’s teaching artists train educators on all aspects of putting on their inaugural production, including teaching kids how to sing, dance and act.
4/26/2023
Education and Outreach
And many of these hardworking educators received the recognition they deserve on April 21, at The Smith Center’s eighth-annual Heart of Education Awards, celebrating outstanding CCSD teachers.
4/26/2023
Education and Outreach
The club’s contribution directly supports the education and outreach programs at The Smith Center — a nonprofit organization — including the student matinees it presents in its theaters to over 70,000 students each year.
1/30/2023
Education and Outreach
Panamanian-American conductor Kalena Bovell teaches student and educator workshops at The Smith Center.
12/4/2022
Education and Outreach
It will not astonish anyone who knows Siobhan Fergiels, one of 20 teachers to receive a Heart of Education Award in April, that she will use the monetary gift from her award to help her community.
11/30/2022
Education and Outreach
This recognition should not have come as a surprise to Blanco, the founding director of LVHS’s mariachi program, as his accolades are many. These include being named a semifinalist for the 2022 Music Educator Award by the Recording Academy and Grammy Museum.
11/17/2022
Education and Outreach
Corwyn Evans-Klock, or Mr. EK as his students call him, is still in shock that he was awarded a Heart of Education Award earlier this year. “The fact that my student nominated me and that if they hadn’t, I would never have even been able to apply still brings tears to my eyes as I think about it now,” he exclaims, adding, “tears of joy!”
11/8/2022
Education and Outreach
The teaching philosophy of choral teacher Kim Ritzer is simple: when words fail, music speaks.
11/2/2022
Education and Outreach
The center’s new Links to Literature program this year provided approximately 3,000 preschool-to-5th-grade students with complimentary copies of the books that inspired the productions they saw at The Smith Center.
10/28/2022
Education and Outreach
Setting his disbelief aside months later, the kindergarten teacher at Crestwood Elementary School calls receiving a Heart of Education Award an honor. “I am humbled, because I feel like there are many teachers out there who work just as hard as I do,” he says. “Year after year we work without any recognition of our dedication and hard work. To have that recognized was unexpected and gratifying.”