For many, the Flint School of Performing Arts is like a second home. From lessons to classes to performances, a student’s commitment to perfecting their craft is one that may span years of roaming FSPA’s halls with instruments and duffle bags slung over shoulders.

Or in the case of many parents — hours are spent settled in at a table in the atrium or waiting in their favorite parking spot in the FSPA lot. These families know that this kind of dedication is not only par for the course but a keen investment in the future. As we wrap up the traditional school year, we want to take a moment to highlight a few very accomplished young people who’ve grown up in FSPA corridors and will carry those experiences with them after they graduate high school.

Jade LaGore

Meet Jade LaGore. If you’ve been to a Flint Youth Symphony Orchestra (FYSO) Concert since 2018, you’ve probably seen Jade in the violin section. She grew up at FSPA, she says, participating in the early music classes and tagging along as her older sister took guitar lessons. She picked up a violin at six years old and joined FYSO when she was in just sixth grade. She’s also a member of the Dort Honors String Trio, which has afforded her countless performance opportunities, including a trip to Paris last Spring, which would go down in Jade’s book as one of her greatest memories at FSPA.
“I have always dreamed about going to Paris,” she says. “When I was young, my family started putting money in a jar that I hoped would pay my way to Paris someday. But when it was time to buy a violin, we emptied the jar. My parents told me not to worry, that my violin would take me to Paris someday. And they were right. It was a real full-circle moment for me.” Her violin will carry her to Europe again this summer, as she travels with FYSO on their International Tour

But Jade’s accomplishments aren’t restricted to FSPA endeavors. She was recently honored as a Rotary Club Student of the Month at Flushing High School, where she’ll soon graduate as one of the top ten academic performers in her class. She is also a member of her high school tennis team and travels to Nashville twice each month to play in The Band Jaren, a Christian pop duo she formed with her older sister. The band completed a tour in December. While she has her sights set on a violin performance degree from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor or Belmont University in Nashville, she hopes that her recent tour experience was the first of many.

“I want to see the band really take off,” she says of her long-term plans. And how does this young person manage to stay so focused with such a robust schedule, you ask? “Only by the grace of God,” says Jade. “And good parenting, of course.”

Kory Sanchez

Kory Sanchez may be finding great success as a young thespian, but his ambition and talent are no act. He was recently accepted into the prestigious Tisch school of the Arts at New York University, an opportunity he has dreamed about for years. “I’ve wanted to go to NYU for as long as I can remember,” he says.

Before the audition last fall, he had a unique opportunity to solidify his NYU dreams by participating in a four-week summer program through the university that offered a glimpse into the world of theatre he hoped to pursue. Attending masterclasses and workshops at the Atlantic Acting School Studio, participating in studio swaps across campus and learning from NYU faculty as well as professional directors and designers, the experience was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity reserved for young people who show an exceptional drive and passion for theatre.

A drive that, for Kory, started on the stage of Flint Youth Theatre (FYT), now a part of FSPA, when he was in middle school. “I did a couple of shows with FYT which really helped push me and fueled my drive for theatre,” Kory says. “It was such an accepting community and we were always given positive feedback. I owe a lot to Samuel [Richardson] because he really encouraged a love of theatre in all his students.”

Even with his goal of acceptance to NYU already accomplished, Kory doesn’t plan to slow down while he looks eagerly toward graduation and the start of his Tisch career next fall. He’s working hard in his advanced theatre and English classes at Fenton High School, participating in choir, working a part-time job (with another on the horizon) and even plans to revisit FYT by assisting with FSPA summer theatre camps this year.

Dani Prosch

Dani Prosch doesn’t remember a time before she could dance. At 18-years-old, the senior at Grand Blanc High School has been dancing in FSPA studios for 16 years. “It’s my second home,” she says of the place she dances at least five days a week. “And after a lifetime of dancing together, these girls are my second family.”

There have been many “family members” who’ve moved on over the years. Some even served as close mentors to Dani, like FSPA alumna and professional ballerina Hanna Adamczak. Now, this spirit of mentorship is one Dani is proud to carry on as an assistant teacher in FSPA dance classrooms for younger students. “It helps keep me confident in my dancing, and I can help create that confidence in them, too. I love having an opportunity to be a positive role model for them.”

Of course, she is a positive role model outside the classroom as well, to some very special people. Her “first family” consists of her twin eight-year-old siblings, one of whom hopes to fill her big sister’s pointe shoes someday. Little sister Alex dances in the Elementary II class at FSPA, and 2023 was the first year that she and Dani both performed in The Nutcracker together. “After the final performance, I was so emotional that I was sobbing,” says Dani, who played the coveted Dew Drop Fairy role in the production. “And my sister ran up to me, also sobbing, and said ‘Dani, I don’t want you to go to college!’ It’s been very hard to think about leaving for college, leaving FYB.”

But despite the bittersweet goodbye, Dani is hopeful for a spot in the Western Michigan University dance program, where she’ll pursue a degree in dance performance. Afterward, she dreams about a company role in the Milwaukee Ballet. She will pursue the next chapter in her dancing career with the same poise and grace she exhibits on stage, thanks to the philosophy that has helped her succeed thus far. Despite bruised and bloody feet, a rigorous rehearsal schedule and the occasional naysayer, Dani says, “You just have to be confident. Nobody is perfect. If you’re perfect, what is there to fix? You can always learn from your mistakes and grow into something better.”

Quinlan Bollwitt

Quinlan Bollwitt wasn’t always a bassoonist. His first instrument was alto saxophone, but a wise middle-school band director told him he should consider playing the bassoon — a year later, he found himself taking her advice. And in 2021, as a freshman at Davison High School, Quinlan became the youngest bassoonist in FYSO’s history to join the ensemble.

After four years in the group, he has several fond memories, including the opportunity to perform in the FSPA production of Peter and the Wolf at Whiting Auditorium in 2023. “The first time I ever learned what a bassoon was, was during a puppet show production of Peter and the Wolf in elementary school. I had such vivid memories of the Grandfather role and the sound of the bassoon,” recalls Quinlan. “Getting to play the piece and that part with FYSO was my childhood coming full-circle for me.”

Now in his senior year, he’ll have an opportunity to soak up his last precious FYSO memories as he travels abroad with the group for their international tour to Germany and France, before he digs into degrees in bassoon performance and music education at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

He isn’t waiting until college, though, to start practicing his career as an educator. He currently spends two hours of his regular school day assisting in middle school band classrooms — one of which belongs to that teacher who shepherded him toward bassoon in the first place.

“This is one of the only things in school that has never bored me. The kids are just so entertaining!” says Quinlan of the opportunity to work with middle schoolers. “I was really indecisive about what I wanted to do after high school for a while, but now I can’t imagine doing anything else.”