MacArthur High School “Page to Stage” Innovative Grant Creates Drama for Middle and High Schoolers
Mahalia Dinglasan, Drama Teacher at MacArthur High School, used her $1,000 NEEF (North East Education Foundation) Innovative Grant to not only benefit MacArthur High School Drama students, but also several middle school language arts classes. The “Page to Stage” project was proposed to NEEF in 2021 and then implemented in 2022. Ms. Dinglasan’s high school students selected several stories from Bradley, Garner, and Driscoll Middle schools then adapted the winning stories into performances.
The grant money paid for the costumes, props, sets and anything that was needed to bring the middle schoolers’ stories to life. “This is an opportunity to align our schools and programs, for our students to collaborate with each other, and for middle school students to see their work get performed,” said Dinglasan. She is planning to turn this into a yearly event.