LEAVENWORTH, Kan. – A local high school in the Kansas City metro is getting $10,000 from NBC’s R.I.S.E. America Grant program for its theater program.
The grant is inspired by an upcoming drama “Rise,” which showcases the impact of a high school theater department on a small town.
More than 1,000 schools across the country applied and only 50 received the grant, including Leavenworth High School.
“One of our mottos here is the size of your school and your budget and where you come from does not determine what you can achieve,” said the high school’s theater director Jennifer Morgan. “We are really creative in creating, so to speak. Finding resources to build and fund different things.”
To qualify for the grant, schools were required to have a theater program, which was endangered due to budget constraints. Each school submitted a video about its program explaining what would be done with the money and why they deserved it.
Leavenworth High plans on using the funds to start replacing its stage.
“A line item of this magnitude, like a stage floor that is tired and needs replacing, is much larger than we know how to absorb,” said Morgan.
“Rise” premiers Tuesday, March 13 on 41 Action News after the season finale of “This Is Us.”
