NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Two Middle Tennessee teenagers are heading to college to study theater this fall, in part thanks to a love of the arts they developed through a program at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center designed to give young performers a head start.
Kaydence Arora and Ronember Quintero are this year's winners of TPAC's Spotlight Awards, now in its 10th year.
Watch report from Robb Coles
The program sends arts professionals to high school musicals across the area to watch shows and nominate students to take part in the awards.
Beyond competing for the award, participants also take part in ongoing learning opportunities throughout the year.
"The work that goes into it, begins in the beginning of the school year when a student first decides to audition for the show they want to be in," said Susan Sanders, Tennessee Performer Arts Center’s Senior Vice President for Education and Community Engagement.
Sanders said the skills students develop through theater can be helpful in any field.
"We have many who’ve accomplished the knowledge and confidence and experience through the arts to bring that to any industry," Sanders said.
Spotlight Award winners travel to New York to compete in the Jimmy Awards, sometimes called the Tony Awards for high school theater, where they receive training from Broadway professionals.
"I feel like I was talking to a genius, like I was getting free feedback from a genius," Arora said.
"It was a life-changing experience for me, I feel like I got to meet so many new people, people with my same interest," Quintero said.
For Arora, this was her second year attending the Jimmy Awards. She said winning the Spotlight Award the previous year was a turning point.
"I had no clue I wanted to pursue theater until I won Spotlight last year," Arora said. "Spotlight gave me a confidence in myself that I couldn't find anywhere else.”
Both teens said they're working toward a career in performing now that they’ve graduated high school.
"I just want to be doing what I love, being on a Broadway stage or performing my own songs," Quintero said.
"Whether it be Broadway or not, I want to be a full-time performer," Arora said.
Click here for more information on the Spotlight Awards program.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at robb.coles@newschannel5.com.
September 11, 2001 is a day most associate with terror and tragedy. Austin Pollack shares a story from that day about hope and persistence: the effort to save a little girl’s life – with an organ donation. The problem? The young patient was in Houston, and her life-saving liver here in Nashville. With the grounding of all civilian aircraft, how could it be done? “Nobody ever said this isn’t possible.”
- Rhori Johnston
