Education Notebook: Mead staging classic comedy

The Mead High School theater department will perform the classic comedy “You Can’t Take It With You” in the Mead High School Performing Arts Theatre, beginning next Thursday at 7 p.m. Performances continue March 2 and March 6-8 at 7 p.m.

The play tells the story of the freethinking Sycamore family, and how their “normal” daughter, Alice, falls in love with the son of a wealthy business owner. Alice worries her eccentric grandfather, along with the ballerina-wannabe who makes candy, a printer who plays the xylophone and a playwright who has yet to finish a single play in eight years, will make a bad impression on Tony, yet he is charmed by them.

The cast includes: Scotty Brewer, as Grandpa; Katelynn Leavitt, as Penny; Ralph Smith, as Paul; Alexa Aaseby, as Essie; Scott Coffey, as Ed; Allison Saralecos, as Rheba; Josh Granum, as Donald; Travis Cook, as Mr. DePinna; Scott Sullivan, as Henderson; Alex Kwamina, as Kolenkov; Lexi Miasnikov, as Alice; Chandler DeZarn, as Tony; David St. Clair and Abby Hawkes, as Mr. and Mrs. Kirby; Kristen Erwin, as Gay Wellington; Abbey Constable, as the Grand Duchess; and Katie Curtiss, Tabb Nelson and Tristan Quintus, as the government agents.

Tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for students and senior citizens. Tickets may be purchased at Mead’s Business Office during school hours or at the door.

For more information call theater director and Mead teacher Karen Brathovde at (509) 465-7008 or email karen.brathovde@ mead354.org.

Three students earn full scholarships

Three Spokane Public Schools students were recently named among 63 students in the Northwest by the Act Six Leadership and Scholarship Initiative to receive full-tuition, full-need scholarships.

The Act Six recipients are Prakash Kafle and Jeannette Potter, of Rogers High School, and Lesly Sub Cuc, of Ferris. The students plan to attend Whitworth University.

The initiative was launched in 2002 by the Northwest Leadership Foundation in Tacoma with the goal of developing urban and community leaders on school campuses and in their home communities.

According to a news release, since the program’s inception, 37 participants of ethnically diverse and mostly first-generation, low-income Act Six scholars from Tacoma, Seattle, Portland, Spokane and the Yakima Valley have enrolled at eight Northwest schools – George Fox University, Gonzaga University, Heritage University, Northwest University, Pacific Lutheran University, Trinity Lutheran College, Warner Pacific College and Whitworth University. To date, 90 percent of the 256 scholars who have started college have graduated or are still enrolled. Nearly 85 percent of Act Six alumni have returned to work and serve in their home communities and 22 percent are pursuing or have earned graduate degrees.

For more information, visit www.actsix.org.