Drama teacher Kathleen Barbara won the Region 1 teacher of the year award at the annual Thespian Festival last weekend. 

“Barbara is understanding, and she really tries to connect with her kids,” sophomore Warren Swedberg said. “Just a good, all around person to go to if you have some troubles. She’s just a great teacher all around.”

ThesFest is a place where students can come together to learn more about theatre through workshops and other sessions.

“Kansas Thespian Festival is an annual three-day event that takes place every January,” Barbara said. “For the past decade, it’s been held in Wichita at Century II/Hyatt, since that is the only facility in Kansas that can hold 2000 attendees! There are five mainstage shows that are carefully adjudicated and selected from across the state, workshops, college auditions, and theatre events.”

While students get to learn about drama and connect with other theatre students in the area through ThesFest, Barbara tries to give her students not only drama advice, but other tips as well in her class.

“Being a genuine actor,” Swedberg said. “Also finding time management, being a hard worker. She’s been a good influence on me.”