Alumnus Noah Branch returns as a PS Facilitator

Helping students connect to their purpose is what we love doing! But even more so when we have little moments like these where a Project Success alumnus comes back to PS no longer as a student, but as a PS staff member. We are grateful to see and hear about how they were able to connect with their purpose in life because of the help they received through our programs. And for them to return and support Project Success after carving their own path is one of the greatest gifts we receive at Project Success.

Over the years, we have had several PS alumni become PS staff members. The latest to join this group is the fabulous, Noah Branch, who recently graduated from the University of Minnesota with a major in theater and is now a PS Facilitator.

“I have decided to come to Project Success because of not only the impact it had on me as a student, but also because of my time spent as an intern here. From workshops to college tours to theater experiences, Project Success offered me tons of opportunity, and now that I am able, I saw it fit to use my training and education to give back and continue this legacy of impact that Project Success has on students. Project Success has always openly and clearly put the student first, which is one of my core guiding principles as an educator, and to see it put to action so clearly here made it a very easy choice to work for Project Success.”

We first met Noah as a freshman at Patrick Henry High School in 2013 during an in-class workshop delivered by his facilitator, Kurt, and later on with Micah as his PS facilitator, during his junior and senior year. The workshops provided Noah with support to help him pave a path for his future in theater.

“Project Success had a massive impact on me. Kurt, my first facilitator, and then Micah, both presented me with ideas and opportunity that I would not have had otherwise. From my first time being at the Guthrie, to seeing colleges with friends that would end up being where we spent the next four years, Project Success has given me a number of experiences that have left a lasting impact on me. Truly most of all, however, it connected me with my first few teaching artists. The first artists, actors, dancers I met that were able to do what they love while teaching it, were people I met through Project Success.”

Now as a PS facilitator, he will help connect students with a multitude of opportunities from the arts to outdoor adventures to college tours and help them find their purpose within their own lives, just as Project Success did for him. In the long-term, he hopes to one day start his own theater company in North Minneapolis where he will base his work on W.E.B DuBois’ philosophy about Black theater being ‘about us, by us, for us, and near us.’

You can read his previous alumni feature here.