November 13, 2023  |  Wolf Trap Education

Wolf Trap Teacher Grants

Changing Lives Past and Present

Potomac Falls High School students visit Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.

Did you know Wolf Trap Education reaches nearly 100,000 children, educators, and families each year? One way we do this in our local community is through Grants for Performing Arts Teachers, an annual program that empowers public school teachers across DC, Maryland, and Virginia to bring new and exciting performing arts experiences to their students. 

Each year, public high school and middle school teachers explore subjects like technology, the environment, and social change through artist residencies, master classes, and commissions of new original works. Through these opportunities, students learn to express themselves and discover a lifelong love of the performing arts—all made possible by your generous contributions! 

Two of our Wolf Trap members, Amy and Ben Rossi, have first-hand experience with the impact these grants can make on the lives of young people.

Their daughter, Liliana “Lily” Rossi, was a student at Potomac Falls High School when Wolf Trap Grants for Performing Arts Teachers catapulted her talent to the global stage. 

Lily’s theater arts teacher, Corinne Fox, applied for a 2021-2022 Wolf Trap Performing Arts Grant with a vision: to tell the story of the historic Johnstown flood tragedy of 1889 through an original one-act play. This work, which debuted for students and parents in spring of 2022, brought students together both onstage and off, utilizing research, writing, acting, and stagecraft in a multifaceted performing arts project. 

The Great Johnstown Flood of 1889 on stage.

Lily (bottom right) and fellow students on stage performing Into the Valley Below

As the project took shape, so did Lily’s leadership as a director and playwright. Lily was chosen by her teacher to co-author and direct The Great Johnstown Flood of 1889, which quickly grew beyond a stage debut. Thanks to Wolf Trap funding, Potomac Falls High School students visited the Johnstown Flood Museum, Heritage Discovery Center, and the Johnstown Flood Memorial Park in Pennsylvania for an immersive learning experience of the history they worked hard to bring to life onstage. 

“In Lily fashion, she researched everything about Johnstown.” shared Lily’s mother, Amy. “She got to know [the Johnstown residents'] families and family histories. She’s been in direct contact with people there!”

The cast of The Great Johnstown Flood of 1889 takes a bow.

The student cast of The Great Johnstown Flood of 1889 take a bow

Following their smash success on the Potomac Falls High School stage that spring, students traveled to Scotland in August 2022. There, they had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform The Great Johnstown Flood of 1889 at the internationally acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Lily later expanded the play to two acts, and it was professionally produced this past summer as Into the Valley Below—a 90-minute production by Stagecoach Theatre Company in Ashburn, Virginia. 

Potomac Falls High School students visit Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland

Potomac Falls High School students visit Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland

Wolf Trap has been a large part of Lily’s path as an artist, as well as an artistic home for her family. Lily’s parents Amy and Ben Rossi are performing artists themselves who quickly found their niche at Wolf Trap upon moving from California almost 25 years ago. After enjoying master classes, concerts, and an opera “Newbie Orientation” event at Wolf Trap, they were eager to share the experiences with their growing family. In Amy’s words, “We had no idea just how invested they would become in the arts!” 

Lily’s emerging love for the arts was sparked at Wolf Trap from the beginning through donor supported programs—from Children’s Theatre-in-the-Woods, Young at Arts, and voice lessons to her experience with Wolf Trap Grants program at Potomac Falls. Amy continued, “What I think is really neat about Wolf Trap is the number of ways that people can interact with the arts and learn. For kids who are involved, it changes their lives.”

Amy and Ben Rossi at The Filene Center.

Amy and Ben Rossi pose on the Filene Center Stage

Today, the Rossi family continue to be avid lovers—and advocates—of the arts. Amy serves as Vice Chair and Secretary of the Associates Board at Wolf Trap and works hard to increase the availability of arts programs in her community. 

“I’ve seen firsthand the positive impact arts education and arts experiences can have on students, and especially on my daughter,” shared Amy.

In her statement to the Loudoun County Public School Board advocating to expand arts funding, she stated, "After the last few years our students need more access to the arts, not less. The arts enable expression, bring people together, and provide a safe place for them to make sense of the world.”

Lily’s growing passion has taken her on quite the journey as well. Lily continued on to become president of her a cappella group (Panthera) and the Potomac Falls Thespian Club. Additionally, she was recognized as a Rising Loudoun Artist for her work on The Great Johnstown Flood of 1889—all before graduating high school this past spring! She fell in love with Scotland on her school trip and moved to Aberdeen, Scotland this fall to begin her undergraduate studies in history and art history. First order of business? Auditioning for music programs and finding a theatre company to call home on this next adventure!


2023-2024 Grant Winners

Every year we are inspired to see what teachers and students achieve through Wolf Trap Grants. This year will be no different with great projects just around the corner, thanks to your support. Plus, with the support of General Dynamics, Wolf Trap Foundation introduced a pilot program this year to expand funding to middle school teachers! 

Your support makes this program possible. As a token of our thanks, here is a special sneak preview of this year’s recipients, just for our Wolf Trap members and partners:

High School Grantees:

In Virginia:

  • Tony Cimino-Johnson, Rock Ridge High School (Loudoun County Public Schools)
  • Meredith Barnes, Fairfax High School (Fairfax County Public Schools)
  • Patrick Fritz, Stone Bridge High School (Loudoun County Public Schools)

In Washington, DC:

  • Barry Moton, Anacostia High School (DC Public Schools)
  • Sharkey Andrews, McKinely Technology High School (DC Public Schools)

In Maryland:

  • Candis Gamble, Suitland High School (Prince George’s County Public Schools)
  • Hannah Kerr, Albert Einstein High School (Montgomery County Public Schools)

Middle School Grantees:

In Virginia:

  • Damaris-Lydia Odebode and Erik Jacobs, Willard Middle School (Loudoun County Public Schools)
  • Karine Chapdelaine, Groveton Elementary School (Fairfax County Public Schools)
  • Tiffany Hitz, James W. Robinson Secondary School (Fairfax County Public Schools)

In Washington, DC:

  • Jacquima Caulton Burgess, Friendship Armstrong Public Charter School (DC Public Charter Schools)
  • Nicholas Prosini, Friendship Armstrong Public Charter School (DC Public Charter Schools)
  • Sandra Jean, Eliot-Hine Middle School (DC Public Schools)

Please congratulate our newest grantees! Wolf Trap will share more details about their projects in the coming months.