When Amudalat talks about her dream to attend Harvard University, her energy is palpable and her enthusiasm enviable. The incoming junior at Saint Paul Conservatory for Performing Artists didn’t always speak with such passion. “I lost my voice a bit in sixth grade,” she says. “After joining Project SUCCESS, I got my voice back.” The nonprofit organization works to inspire and assist students in setting and reaching their goals. Project SUCCESS wants each student to have a plan and tools to propel them into life beyond high school.
Amudalat has two dreams. “My dream job is to be an actress or singer,” she says, adding she has, what she calls, a “realistic dream job.” “I’d love to be a criminal defense attorney,” she says. While she has dual aspirations, Amudalat is singular in her focus to attend Harvard. Thanks to the inspiration she gained from Project SUCCESS, she has decided to travel to Cambridge, Massachusetts in October to tour the university. “I’m excited,” Amudalat says. Months before her visit, she takes virtual tours of the campus, taking note of the freshmen dorms and of Harvard’s performance spaces and a cappella group. She credits Project SUCCESS for solidifying her dreams. “It got my brain thinking,” Amudalat says.
Project SUCCESS began as a pilot program, with Adrienne Diercks at the helm, which tested a motivational workshop for 200 high school students in 1993. Along with co-sponsorship from the Guthrie Theater and the Perpich Center for Arts Education, the program used the Guthrie’s production of Death of a Salesman as a springboard for discussion. “This powerful show, attended by the students and many of their teachers and families, proved to be a relevant medium for students to reflect on motivation, dreams and choices that related to their lives and future development,” Diercks says. The pilot’s success propelled organizers to develop the program to reach middle school through high school students. “It’s all about the kids,” Diercks says. “It’s about providing opportunities for students they otherwise would not have without Project SUCCESS. I truly believe that one person can make a difference in a child’s life.”
Each month, Project SUCCESS’ professional facilitators visit English and language arts classrooms in the schools it serves to lead interactive, goal-setting workshops. “Our goal is that, by spring of their senior year, each student has a personal, post-high school plan that suits his or her needs, personality and goals,” Diercks says. Students utilize some of the tools they’ve gleaned from the workshops on college visits with Project SUCCESS. They are versed in identifying suitable colleges and developing questions for admissions counselors, for example, according to Amy Stubblefield, communications associate.”
The transition to the world beyond high school can be daunting, but the move from middle school to high school presents its own challenges. Project SUCCESS addresses those issues and, at times, uses the power of theater to illustrate its message. “We use professional theater as a tool to inspire students, help them look at the real-life issues they face, demonstrate they are members of a larger community and act as a [launching point] for discussion in the classroom workshops and at home,” Diercks says.
In 2015, Project SUCCESS began a half-day experience for high school freshmen, centered on the stage production And So I Did, written and performed by students who shared their personal journeys leading into and through the 9th grade.
The musical has been performed in several Saint Paul middle schools, and the production went international in February when students performed for nearly 2,000 students, educators, community leaders and elected officials in Mexico City and Cuernavaca, Mexico. “From the minute we landed, our hosts in Mexico welcomed us with open arms and open hearts,” Diercks says. “The students developed a set of increasingly important global competencies through the experience.”
