Dear Friends of Pershing Middle School-

As we near the production of Seussical Jr! It has been a long and extremely rewarding process. I know that come the week of April 17th it will be such a joy to see live theater come to life with our own Pershing Middle School students. This was the dream of former Principal Susan Levy over ten years ago as her own love of musical theater and her knowledge of the power of performing arts motivated her to bring a full-scale production to a public middle school. With an unparalleled passion, she created a middle school drama program from nothing to something that has become the model and envy of not only other public schools in the area but local theater companies as well. The productions served not only current students but the community as well as local elementary schools were often welcomed on field trips to expand younger students' minds to the power of the performing arts.

And then Mrs. Levy retired.

While Mrs. Levy had a long and exhaustive career and was certainly worthy of retirement; the majority of the lament came from (already) dramatic students about the future of this beloved program. While we were able to pull together an amazing team this year, wouldn’t it be awesome if we could ensure that Pershing Middle School would forever have a FUNDED drama department to be able to offer their students?

It costs roughly $5,000 to put on our production each year. This pays for the rights to the show that is chosen, scripts, props, and most importantly a Director and Choreographer. As you know, Mrs. Levy faithfully directed each production on her own time with no additional payment. That number does not include the hundreds of volunteer hours from parents willing to provide their time and skills to volunteer from organization to costumes to set design. It is a huge undertaking that Mrs. Levy shouldered mostly on her own. Wouldn’t it be amazing to have the funds in place for years to come so that a production could be guaranteed by the assurance that the school could hire an outside resource to bring a show to life? Wouldn’t it be even more amazing to honor Mrs. Levy’s legacy with a named endowment in her honor?

What is even more special than the endowment in her honor is that we will be surprising her with this recognition IN PERSON the week of our show. We invited Mrs. Levy to return as a “surprise for the kids” but little does she know that we are all in on it and the surprise will be on her. It didn’t take much convincing to have her return to San Diego for the week so she could see many of her beloved former students perform in this year's production of Seussical Jr! With funds raised, we will present the endowment to Mrs. Levy with a plaque recognizing her service and ensuring future Pershing Panthers a spot on stage should they want to pursue it. Monika Hazel, Area 4 Superintendent has already committed to being present for the evening and we know that it will be an incredibly special and emotional OPENING night. (Mrs. Levy is confirmed to be in attendance at our show on Wednesday, April 19th at 6 pm!)

Let’s honor Mrs. Levy and put on not only a great show but a night to remember!