Grants in Action: The Bravest Thing Is to Begin

What does it take for a hesitant kid to step into the spotlight?

Norah Downing has always loved theater. This year, for the first time, she stepped into a starring role. “All the rehearsals, practicing lines, taught me that theater is hard work,” she said. Months of it, in fact, since February. And when she talks about the performance, what comes through isn’t nerves. It’s exciting: she can’t wait for people to see what they made.

Linda May and her Drama Club spent the spring building a production of Seussical from the ground up thanks to support from NKSF.

Linda describes the arts in an elementary school as a kind of “emotional rehearsal room,” a safe place where students explore big feelings, relationships, and challenges. Through character work, kids learn to name their emotions, see other perspectives, and express themselves in healthy ways. It’s social-emotional learning, just dressed up in costumes and stage lights.

Putting on a show asks a lot of a young person. Students learned lines, mastered choreography, and adapted when things didn’t go as planned. They collaborated, solved problems, and worked through the small conflicts that come with any team. When something fell apart, they figured out how to put it back together. That’s resilience, practiced for real, not from a worksheet.

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The show must go on!

The bravest part was simply stepping onstage. Students who were once hesitant to speak in front of others found the courage to perform. Others discovered they were leaders, or had a creative streak they hadn’t known about. With every rehearsal, they built confidence in their voices, their abilities, and their sense of belonging.

And those skills don’t stay behind the curtain. Kids who learn to manage nerves, communicate clearly, and try again after a stumble carry that into the classroom and everyday life. The growth shows up not just in a final bow, but in the kindness and connection among the students all year long.

That’s the quiet magic of a program like this. A community decided its kids deserved a stage; a safe place to perform bravely. Thirty young performers learned that hard work pays off, that it’s okay to take a risk, and that the people around them will be cheering when they do. A girl who loved theater got to discover what she could do in a starring role. That is what support looks like up close.

This is Grants in Action: giving students the courage to find their voice, and a community ready to applaud when they do.