Fine Arts Academy at Lopez High School draws students from across BISD

Four young ladies danced onto the stage, then into the audience as they invited everyone into the performance.

Then, the curtains opened onto a "Little Shop of Horrors" where students at Lopez High School performed the musical for a delighted audience. The Fine Arts Academy at Lopez High School spent three months preparing to perform the musical Jan. 29 – 30.

A couple of weeks before the performance, Omar Limas said he was really looking forward to the event.

"I am playing Orin, which is the dentist," said Limas, 18, a senior at the magnet school for fine arts.

The Fine Arts Academy at Lopez High School is one of a variety of magnet programs in the Brownsville Independent School District that target students with specific interests. This particular school comes with an auditorium that seats more than 600 people who can view musicals presented through the collaborative efforts of numerous departments, including music, art, theater and dance.

"It’s huge," Lopez principal Dawn Hall said. "People just don’t know all the stuff that’s offered here. It’s phenomenal."

The dance department includes a class in Capoeira, a Brazilian dance/martial arts. Although that dance wasn’t included in "Little Shop of Horrors," Jesus Chapa, 18, was still enjoying the experience.

"It’s really exciting, something new, especially something new to the Valley," he said.

What does he enjoy most about it?

"Just the peculiar movements of the dance, where it comes from, the history," he said. The most difficult part, he added, is

"It’s healthy," he said. "It’s a way of working out, learn something new."

Hall said the school also has its own recording studio.

"We have been trying to put that together for over five years," she said. "It’s truly a dream come true. We’re still putting the finishing touches on it."

Lopez has offered the Fine Arts Academy since its construction in 1993, said Mary Jo Monfils, area superintendent in charge of the Lopez cluster. A cluster refers to the elementary and middle schools that feed into a high school, in this case Lopez. Monfils said students from any part of BISD can attend the Lopez magnet program. If they are students at Porter, Pace, Rivera, or Hanna high schools, they must first go to those schools and buses will transport them to Lopez from there. Monfils said the academy’s purpose is to give students interested in the fine arts a head start in pursuing their career goals.

"Definitely we hope they will be prepared to follow their career choice and if it’s going to be in the fine arts then they will have an edge on the other fine arts students that would be entering colleges and universities," Monfils said. She added that she hoped students at Lopez would be the first in line for scholarships and would "qualify for the program of their choice."

Lopez has 2,250 students and 300 fine arts magnet students.

"Maybe they just want to take an art class or one dance class and we’re good," said Hall.

Monfils is very happy with Gloria Benavides, the new theater arts teacher.

"She’s certainly given a lot of new spirit to the program," Monfils said.

Hall explained the school didn’t have a musical performance for two years.

"We were waiting for a theater teacher with her kind of talent, and we’re just delighted," she said. "She’s wonderful. She has really expanded it."

On Friday night, the school welcomed its first musical in three years. Students sang and danced about life on skid

Benavides earlier said she was excited about being a part of the Lopez program and the musical’s progress.

"We have the best faculty in the district," she said. "We have a fabulous support system. One of the things about Lopez High School is the fine arts teachers are pretty young, pretty progressive. I’ve gotten all kinds of support from every respect of the visual arts department."

Limas says he enjoys the camaraderie of the program and putting together a musical.

"It’s like bringing people together, which is the production, the theater company," he said. "It’s meeting new people, working with people. I plan to go to UT-Austin and study theater there. I am actually accepted there. I am on my way."

Laura Treviño, 17, didn’t participate in the musical this year because she wanted to focus on band. She made All-State Band, so her focus paid off. However, she is taking theater and enjoying the new experience.

"I guess you can say it’s broadening my horizons because of just being put on the spot," said Treviño, a junior. "I know I am going to be put on the spot, so it makes me work for my goal. I’m not going to embarrass myself. I joined theater this year and I am enjoying it very much."