A Golden Start at Sanford
With 142 students auditioning for Willy Wonka Jr., Sanford’s musical season is off to an exciting start, full of courage, second chances, and opportunities to grow.
Arts
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Arts | Expeditions | Institute | Org Updates | Workshops
What’s Possible This Year
Project Success students are stepping into a new school year filled with opportunities to explore, create, connect, and grow. See what’s ahead across Workshops, Arts, Expeditions, and Institute, and how the Project Success curriculum connects it all.
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This Is Me: More Than a Musical
The final curtain may have closed, but the impact of this year’s musical theater season is just beginning. Across three Minneapolis middle schools, students spent eight weeks building confidence, friendships, resilience, and the courage to step into the spotlight.
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A Full-Circle Connection: From Project Success Parent to Volunteer
Cletus Maychrzak first encountered Project Success when his son was a student in Minneapolis Public Schools in the early 2000s. Through PS, he and his son had the opportunity to attend live theater performances – an experience that Cletus describes as “such a gift.” So in 2023, when Cletus saw a call for volunteer drivers with Project Success on a…
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From 1994 to 2026, connection and exploration through theater
In early 1994, as Project Success was first taking root at North High School in Minneapolis, our founder and executive director, Adrienne Diercks, had an ambitious idea. She was already working with her mentor and former teacher, George Roberts, on bringing workshops into the classroom at North, and she envisioned theater as a powerful part…
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Arts | Events | Org Updates
Dear Minneapolis: A Message of Support and Hope for Minneapolis Students
Our students are resilient, bright, and excited to work on their futures. We know that it’s been a difficult start to the new year in Minneapolis with significant challenges to our students and families’ sense of hope, safety, and belonging. Our students asked for inspiration and hope while many were participating in virtual learning options…
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Freedom, Culture, Courage: Students Bring their Stories to the Stage
In 1938, the dancer and artist Martha Graham asked, “What is America?” Her original work paired spoken word with movement, drawing on essential American texts to explore identity and democracy. Nearly 90 years later, a group of Project Success students answered that same question through their own stories, languages, histories, and traditions. Their answers were…
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Movement, Mental Health, and Meaning: Collide’s “Wonderland” Show Reaches 1,100+ Students
This November, the Project Success Theater team partnered once again with Collide Theatrical Dance Company to bring their groundbreaking production Wonderland to four of our partner schools—Olson and Justice Page Middle Schools, FAIR School for the Arts, and Thomas Edison High School. With these performances, more than 1,100 students experienced the Wonderland residency this year. Through engaging choreography and storytelling, Wonderland explores mental health with clarity and compassion. Themes such as…
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A Celebration of Culture: Students Experience Native Pride Productions at The Ordway
On November 13, nearly 100 students from Andersen, Anwatin, Olson, and Northeast middle schools went on a field trip to The Ordway with Project Success to experience a live performance from Native Pride Productions. The planning for this multi-school, all-day field trip started at the beginning of the school year in September, when the Project Success Programs team met with principals from these four middle…
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Students Explore the Art and Athleticism of Ballet Through Dance Residency
Project Success recently brought to life a first-of-its-kind dance residency program to Mankato Middle school students in partnership with Mankato Ballet Company. Over the course of four days, more than 1,700 students at Dakota Meadows and Prairie Winds Middle Schools had the opportunity to experience ballet – many for the first time. During their…
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Project Success Musicals – Join Us for a Show This Year!
Each year, Project Success partners with Sanford, Northeast, and Andersen Middle Schools to produce a Middle School Musical with our students. Through our middle school musicals, students feel safe, supported, and a sense of inclusion. During the 10-week rehearsal and production process, students build and strengthen community, practice setting goals and making a plan to…
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Arts | Expeditions | Institute | Mankato | Org Updates | Workshops
Thousands of Connections, Millions of Possibilities: The 2024-2025 School Year with Project Success
This past school year, 17,000+ middle and high school students in Minneapolis and Mankato along with their families dreamed big, ignited possibilities, and grew exponentially through Project Success programming driven by our proven DIG curriculum. Here are some of the many ways that young people connected to their purpose this year with Project Success. Workshops “Project…
