UCS students receive top honors, scholarships at theatre festival

Top honors and more than $5.3 million scholarships were handed out to Utica Community Schools theatre students at the Michigan Thespian Festival, held December 13 and 14 in Lansing.

In addition, Utica High School student Jaelyn Kaczmarczyk was named among the top ten of the more than 1600 students participating in the festival, earning a $500 thespian scholarship. Kaczmarczyk alone earned nearly $500,000.

Students from more than 80 schools across Michigan took part in the annual festival, which featured nearly 100 workshops as well and keynote speakers.

In the Individual Event categories, Students performed or presented in front of a panel of 3 judges and received a rating of Fair, Good, Excellent, or Superior – With Excellent being the “Gold Standard.” Seniors could also audition for college scholarship.

Honors earned by UCS students are listed below.

Eisenhower High School

• Solo Musical Theatre: Camran Grayson – Superior; Anabella Peret – Good
• Duet Musical Theatre: Kyndra Lazzeri and Madelyn Witulski – Superior; Audrina Visca and Krys Villanueva – Excellent
• Scenic Design: Sydney Duceatt - Superior
• Costume Construction: Odd Geralds-Taylor - Excellent
• Costume Design: Xzavier Northcott – Excellent
• Solo Acting: Abigail Johnson- Good

Eisenhower students earned $4.8 million in combined scholarship offers. Earning Scholarships were:

• Isabella Gjokaj - Acting Scholarship
• Scarlett Hemingway - Acting Scholarship
• Tyler Lang - Acting Scholarship
• Kyndra Lazzeri - Acting Scholarship
• Kellen McCloud - Acting Scholarship
• Anabella Peret - Acting Scholarship
• Riley Quirk - Acting Scholarship
• Cadence Soules - Acting Scholarship
• Charles Vanker - Acting Scholarship
• Connor Wells - Acting Scholarship
• Luke Hendricks - Musical Theatre Scholarship
• Raegan McCloud - Musical Theatre Scholarship
• Zoe Mielke - Musical Theatre Scholarship
• Madelyn Witulski - Musical Theatre Scholarship
• Caden Taubitz - Technical Theatre Scholarship
• Natalia Ablahad -Dance Scholarship

Eisenhower students are under the direction of Eric Wells.

Stevenson High School

• Solo Musical Theatre: Grace Kidd – Superior; Chloe Wesson – Superior
• Duet Acting Scene: Abigail Young and Jaiden Weatherspoon – Excellent
• Stage Management: Megan Lucas – Excellent
• Playwrighting: Chloe Wesson – Excellent
• Costume Construction: - Megan Lucas - excellent
• Monologue: Abigail Young - Good
• Musical Theatre Duet: Jade Arzola and Abigail Tranchida - Good

Stevenson students are under the direction of Cheryl Jackson.
Utica High School

• Monologue Acting: Kelsey Syler – Superior; Anna Stecker - Excellent
• Duet Acting: Sara Gomez-Cooper and Carley Davis - Superior
• Gage Diem, Emma Kuhlman – Excellent
• Group Acting: Anna Stecker, Gage Diem and Alexia Thomas - Superior
• Solo Dance: Caitlyn Seal - Excellent
• Solo Musical Theatre: Kailey Fick – Superior
• Duet Musical Theatre: Kailey Fick and Emma Kuhlman – Superior
• Alexia Thomas and Theo Thomson – Excellent
• Sound Design: Adriana DiPonio - Excellent

Kaczmarczyk earned 11 college scholarships, totaling $464,000. Scholarships offered were:

• Central Michigan University: Special Talent Scholarship
• Detroit Mercy: Talent Scholarship
• Eastern Michigan: Theatre Excellence & Merit Scholarship

• Hope College: Distinguished Artist Award
• Northern Michigan University: Wildcat Merit Scholarship
• Ohio Norther University: Talent Award
• Saginaw Valley State University: Distinguished Theatre Arts
• Rochester Christian University: University Scholarship
• Wayne State University: McLanghlin Endowed Scholarship
• University of Detroit Mercy: Performing Arts Talent
• Wittenberg University: Presidential & Fine Arts Scholarship

Utica High School students are under the direction of Joel Kaczmarczyk