Skip to Content

Project Success Premieres New Student Musical

February 3, 2015

The transition into high school can be one of the most important and intimidating steps in a student’s academic career and stage of personal growth. Research has shown that students’ experiences in their first year of high school often determine their success throughout high school and beyond. However, more students fail 9th grade than any other grade.

For more than 20 years, Project Success has recognized the importance of a ninth-grader’s experience and developed curriculum to prepare and support students through this transition into high school.

In January 2015, Project Success premiered a new half-day experience for high school freshmen, to take place at their schools, and centered around a new multi-media stage production, “And So I Did,” written and performed by 11 Minneapolis and Saint Paul students sharing their own personal journeys leading into and through the 9th grade transition experience.

Our cast incorporated their personal stories and feelings into the show as a way to dispel the myths of high school, create community around the shared experience of transition, and empower each student’s commitment to their own true self. The show not only explores the individual journey of each performer, but also expands on the universal themes of transition, the desire to belong, and the pursuit of personal fulfillment.

As part of the half-day experience, the stories shared in “And So I Did” provide a springboard for discussion and personal storytelling, goal-setting and community building, which is led and facilitated by trained staff in Project Success-designed workshops for the 9th grade student audiences following the performance. The students set academic and personal goals for themselves along with making commitment to their community of fellow classmates.

Saint Paul Public Schools asked Project Success to bring this experience to each of their 9th grade students. The experience premiered at Washington Technology Magnet School in St. Paul and will be brought to 9th graders at each Saint Paul Public high school throughout January and February 2015.

Click here to read more about “And So I Did”