MHS students attend musical ‘Hamilton,’ perform for cast

Friday, 49 U.S. history students from Maricopa High School were able to attend the musical, Hamilton, at Arizona State University’s Gammage Hall.  Teacher Jason Goodwin applied on behalf of Maricopa High School to the Gilder Lehrman Institute for tickets to the musical.

Students across Arizona were given a chance to attend at a discounted rate of $10, thanks in part to The Bob & Renee Parsons Foundation. After the high school was chosen as a recipient of the heavily discounted tickets, students from the U.S. history courses created poems, songs, raps, monologues or scripts based on primary sources from the Founding Father era and from a source-based history unit. Students submitted their final projects to a panel for evaluation and 49 entries were given a chance to see the award winning musical firsthand.

One MHS submission was videotaped and submitted to the Hamilton Education Program, and that submission was chosen to be performed live in front of the over 2,700 Arizona high school students along with the cast of Hamilton. From the over 40 different schools in attendance, MHS students Aidyn Curtis and Taryn Story were one of 14 acts that performed.

“These young ladies received glowing reviews and much praise afterwards,” Goodwin said.

Students went on to participate in a question-and-answer session with cast members and then finally saw a matinee performance of the musical.