Posted Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Thanks in part to a grant from the Gilder Lehrman Foundation and the Rockefeller Center, nearly 70 Walton Central School students had the chance to see Hamilton on Broadway.
The classes were with Marcia Albrecht’s US history classes, and Danielle Cole’s English 11 classes. The grant, which was received by Albrecht, covered the cost of the tickets, bringing the price down to $10. A second grant, secured by Walton Director of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Jane O’Shea, offset that cost as well as the transportation costs.
Students had to complete a close reading and analysis of primary source documents from the founding era. Next, they compared them to the songs used in the musical. They also learned how award-winning writer Lin Manuel Miranda developed the songs, and the different methods he used.
Finally, they chose a topic or person to research and created their own play, song, or poem about them. Once again, this was done using primary source documents. Once all students had presented, we voted on the best project and submitted it to the Gilder Lehrman institute. The institute chose 12 projects to perform on stage at the Richard Rogers Theater in the morning.
Walton’s submission was chosen, and Ellissa Beach and Grace Rhinehart had the chance to perform in front of nearly 1,300 students. After the student performances, there was also a Q&A session with cast members. Then, after lunch, the group had the chance to see a special performance of Hamilton.