10/5/2022
Education and Outreach
Just as singing and acting inspired her as a youth, La Pierre knows that Southern Nevada students will enjoy lifelong benefits from participating in the Disney Musicals in Schools program.
10/4/2022
Education and Outreach
Green Valley High School physics teacher Scott Panik has won numerous accolades for teaching, including being named 2005 Nevada Teacher of the Year and receiving the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics/Science Teaching in 2007. But winning a Heart of Education Award from The Smith Center in April was different.
9/23/2022
Education and Outreach
The Smith Center just announced the opening of nominations for its eighth-annual Heart of Education Awards, honoring outstanding CCSD educators who go above and beyond for their students. Anyone can nominate a CCSD teacher for a Heart of Education Award through January 13, 2023.
8/22/2022
Education and Outreach
For the first time in two years, school buses full of eager children will park at The Smith Center’s campus this fall. As a nonprofit, The Smith Center has presented student matinees in its theaters for roughly 70,000 Southern Nevada students each year since its opening, all at no cost to schools.
8/2/2022
Education and Outreach
Kalena Blake still remembers her sixth-grade trip to New York City, where she saw her first Broadway musical “The Lion King” at the Minskoff Theater. “It was captivating to see a show on Broadway,” remembers Blake, 18, a lifelong resident of Southern Nevada. “It was so enthralling, and made me think ‘this is what I want to do with the rest of my life.’” Little did she know how soon that would happen, with Blake performing on that same stage several years later.
7/28/2022
Education and Outreach
Dakota Renteria will never forget being named one of the eight finalists at the national Jimmy Awards® (formerly the National High School Musical Theatre Awards) at the Minskoff Theater on Broadway this June.
6/1/2022
Education and Outreach
High-energy singing and acting performances by talented musical theater students from 12 Nevada high schools highlighted the tenth-annual Nevada High School Musical Theater Awards, recognizing Nevada’s top musical theater students and the many talents involved with high school theater productions.
5/6/2022
Education and Outreach
The top 20 teachers honored as Heart of Education Award recipients offer inspiring stories of impacting their students and schools. In addition to Ritzer and Blanco, the honorees included Desiree Bedocs, first-grade teacher at Judith Steele Elementary School, who paid out of pocket to take professional-development classes about mental health and trauma-informed practices, to better support her students shaken by the pandemic.
5/5/2022
Education and Outreach
Recently, the center arranged for students to enjoy “Secrets of Space,” the new international touring production from Belfast-based theater company Cahoots NI. Developed with leading space industry experts, “Secrets in Space” explores the wonders of outer space through dazzling imagery and discussion about key ideas and inventions in science, technology and engineering. Using magical illusions, “Secrets of Space” follows sisters “Suni” and “Mae” as they take an interactive journey across the galaxy.
5/2/2022
Education and Outreach
Villalobos-Cardenas says her students’ participation in the Ballet Folklorico master class was more than just about learning dances and steps. “The experience gave the students a taste of Mexico’s cultural diversity,” she says. “In turn, this helps to grow the students as a community and invest in each other as dancers.”