Chico Students Bound for Edinburgh Festival Fringe!
Help me give my students the healing trip of a lifetime to perform at the largest performing arts festival in the world, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe!
My students are passionate, resilient human beings, who care deeply about creating authentic and meaningful learning experiences in the theatre. My students create theatre that transforms lives and improves the greater-Chico community. In the aftermath of the devastating Camp Fire, even after some of them have lost everything, they are pursuing their performance passions even deeper than before.
During my time here, I've seen them take on high-level leadership positions from stage management to set design to acting roles.
And now, I see them taking on leadership to heal our community.
I'm so very proud of them. Last year, we were selected to perform at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe through the American High School Theatre Festival. Together with 39 of my students, we've raised over $100,000. When the Camp Fire happened, our final push for fundraising was stopped in its tracks. We need $40,000 to fully fund our trip to Scotland so that my students can fulfill their dreams.
My Project
On November 8th, 2018, our students and staff members watched from a mere 14 miles away as the smoke from the Camp Fire grew. We waited helplessly to hear if families and loved ones escaped with their lives, to hear if houses and businesses were still standing. The Camp Fire, which claimed 88 lives, 18,800 structures, and billions of dollars in losses, has been deemed as the single costliest incident of 2018 globally and the most destructive of its kind in recorded history. It has forever changed our school and our community. Twenty percent of our students and staff waited helplessly on our campus that morning while their homes, neighborhoods, businesses, and communities were completely destroyed.
We’ve been invited through the American High School Theatre Festival (AHSTF), who selects a small group of high schools to help facilitate and produce their performances at the Fringe Festival.
AHSTF organizes all the travel specs and details from flights to hotel to food. Our 39 students will have a life-changing theatre experience that will inspire and heal them.
Schools are the heartbeat of a community. Our students engage deeply in the arts, sciences, and engineering. We are expressing our grief, anger, and sadness through the arts and sciences, and are focused on using these innovations to heal ourselves and our community. Our students are resolved to thrive in the wake of this tragedy and to create a brighter future than our present reality. Please help me give this incredible experience to them!
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Horst and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.