Senior Alice Barnard was chosen to be a part of the Lyric Opera Young Artists Program through the Lyric Opera of Kansas City last summer and was also accepted for the rest of the year to study opera. She auditioned with 30 other students that stayed after the summer program to train for the auditions and at the end of the summer program, they told students if they were selected.

“It’s a really big honor to be in,” Barnard said. “You audition during the summer program and audition with a bunch of kids that are at the high school level.”

The program gave Barnard a scholarship to participate in the summer program, however, when Barnard was accepted into the year-long program, she needed help paying for that.

“We wrote a grant to the Shawnee Mission Education Foundation,” choir teacher O’Mealey said. “Alice got $1000 to help pay for her participation in the program.”

With the help of the Lyric Opera Young Artists Program, Barnard is hopeful that it would help further her career as an opera artist.

“It’s really where I’m wanting to go, career-wise,” Barnard said. “I want to be an opera professional one day. It’s a really great experience and I’m going to have that experience for a resume in the arts in general.”