2024 Shooting Stars Finalist

The Arts are important to every community’s quality of life and are an essential part of every student’s educational experience. Arts and creativity teach innovation, critical thinking, collaboration, communication and self-expression.

The Shooting Stars Program celebrates Johnson County high school seniors for their excellence in the arts. Shooting Stars has recognized more than 1,000 high school seniors since 1997.

Join us for the 2024 Gala on April 7, 2024. During the event we’ll announce nine first place scholarships ($1400), nine second place scholarships ($700), and nine teacher honorariums ($300)! Thank you to the foundations, businesses and individuals who make Shooting Stars possible.

Get your tickets for the Shooting Stars Gala.

Category	Finalist Name	Nominating Teacher	High School
Theatre Performance	Caroline Alley	Jon Copeland	Mill Valley
	Julianna Bowles	David Hastings	Olathe South
	Brodie Breckenridge	Sara Bryant	De Soto
	Sydney Carter	Edward Shafer	Olathe East
	Faryn Clevenger	Derek Cross	Shawnee Mission West
	Andrew Coddington	Dustin Pence	Olathe North
	Hannah Hatton	Sydney Kohart	Blue Valley Northwest
	Layla Ledford	Brian Cappello	Shawnee Mission East High School
	Randall Marcum	Starr Peterson	Heritage Christian Academy
	Riley Martin	Mark Swezey	Shawnee Mission South
	Brooke Mertz	Steve Gordon	Marantha Academy
	Leah Pal	Jason Haff	Olathe Northwest
	Lily Reiff	Shawnasea Holst	Shawnee Mission Northwest
	Isabelle VanSyckle	Rachel Cain	Blue Valley North High School
	Brooklyn Werth	Kim Spillman	Saint Thomas Aquinas High School
Voice Classical	Leah Abai	Pamela Williamson	Olathe Northwest
	Ellison Bonge	Cassie Banion	Shawnee Mission Northwest
	McKinley Graves	Jessie Reimer	Mill Valley
	Braden Magistro	Jason Cole	Saint James Academy
	Josh McCall	Elise Peterson	Olathe South
	Emma Molteni	Ken Foley	Shawnee Mission East
	Kaitlyn Rongish	Derek Cross	Shawnee Mission West
	Samantha Scoggins	Hannah Stevens	Gardner-Edgerton
	Lily Seitz	Kimberly Modelski	Blue Valley West
	Katie Stegeman	Catherine Boone	Saint Thomas Aquinas
	Noah Tarjan	Jaclyn Krulik	Bleu Valley North
	Tyler Taylor	Micah Horton	Olathe North
	Lucy Wittek	Elizabeth Mulkey	Notre Dame de Sion
Production & Design	Rose Cox	Shawnasea Holst	Shawnee Mission Northwest
	Ian Flynn	Thomas DeFeo	Shawnee Mission East
	Ellie Parks	Joseph Patterson	Gardner-Edgerton
	Michael Rathman	David Hastings	Olathe South
	Ainsley Steenhard	Dustin Pence	Olathe North
	Leo Steger	Alisha Morris	Olathe West
2D Visual Art	AJ Bettes	Doug Catloth	Shawnee Mission West
	Honey Brown	Toni Britt	Gardner-Edgerton
	Payton Butler	Melissa Sellers	Olathe East
	Emma Clement	Erica Matyak	Mill Valley
	Faryn Clevenger	Derek Cross	Shawnee Mission West
	Leo Connelly	Emily Patterson	Blue Valley Southwest
	Sienna Cox	Terra Henderson	Saint James Academy
	Danny Fisher	Allison Mangold	Olathe Northwest
	Owen Hamer	Sheila Wilkins	De Soto
	Audrey Hart	Mark Mosier	Blue Valley
	Lillia Kleinow	Melissa Terryberry	Shawnee Mission Northwest
	Abby Lee	Adam Finkelston	Shawnee Mission East
	George Newham	Michael Albrechtsen	Olathe North
	Noah Panjada	Stephanie Dalley	Shawnee Mission North
	Lee Rea	Chris LaValley	Blue Valley Northwest
	Rhea Sadagopan	Thomas Holland	Blue Valley North
	Andrea Santamaria	Roger Messersmith	Olathe South
	Mallory Terrell	Kristin Howard	Heritage Christian Academy
	Samantha Woods	Darby Murdock	Blue Valley West
	Kate Wren	Liz Smith	Notre Dame de Sion
3D Visual Art	Alex Bergman	Stephanie Kates	Shawnee Mission Northwest
	Annabelle Cavanaugh	Jennifer Hensley	Shawnee Mission East
	Adriana Cazares	Lori Ludwigoe	Olathe East
	Iris Doering	Tim Barnes	Olathe Northwest
	Logan Fixsen	Sheila Wilkins	De Soto
	Anafely Hernandez-Perez	Elijah Schraad	Shawnee Mission West
	Gabriella Jordonova	Carly Kimbrough	Blue Valley Northwest
	Jillian Kramp	Abbey Thomas	Shawnee Mission South
	Maeve Marien-McManus	Jason Lips	Pembroke Hill
	Lucas Nguyen	Aimee Price	Blue Valley West
	Geremi Onentia	Madison Sedillo	Blue Valley
	Alea Schrock	Michele Foster-Lowman	Blue Valley Southwest
	Sam Smith	Ashleigh Garcia	Olathe North
Strings	Sylvia Brown	Jonathan Wiebe	Shawnee Mission South
	William Clark	Andrew Book	Blue Valley West
	Gabriel Decker	Judy Erpelding	Blue Valley North
	Eddy Jiang	Amy Fear	Blue Valley
	Matthew Lee	Joel Martin	Olathe Northwest
	Carter Steenhard	Cecily Mahan	Olathe North
Literature	Nathan Anderson	Kristen Huang	Mill Valley
	Cil Hoch	Amy Anderson	Shawnee Mission East
	Natalie Hopper	Amber McElfresh	Heritage Christian Academy
	Harrison Jones	Casey Engel	Blue Valley
	Nathan Montemayor	Deirdre Zongker	Olathe North
	Alexa Newsom	Kat Buchanan	Blue Valley North
	John Wallace	Stacy Goddard	Olathe East
	Joey Shonkwiler	Anna Hubbard	Kansas City Christian
Photography	Jai’Den Dirks	Kimberly Ruttan	Shawnee Mission Northwest
	Elizabeth Ford	Carla Roberts	Blue Valley West
	Reaghan Gaffney	Caro Thomas	Pembroke Hill
	John Hudson	Kristen Pickell	Blue Valley
	Alexa Oatman	Mary Schulte	Gardner-Edgerton
	Alex Robertson	Emily Hensley	Blue Valley North
	Sebastian Reyes	Ryane Jewell	Shawnee Mission West
	Rue Swanson	Adam Finkelston	Shawnee Mission East
	Caitlyn Toubia	Melissa Sellers	Olathe East
Winds & Percussion	Ishaan Buddharaju	Justin Love	Bleu Valley West
	Andrea Diehl	Robert Davis	Olathe Northwest
	Claire Heigele	Jeff Smikahl	Olathe East
	Griffin Marschall	Matt Bradford	De Soto
	Kate Marten	Deb Steiner	Mill Valley
	Ben Nix	Daniel Freeman	Blue Valley North
	Maren Tims	Bill Thomas	Shawnee Mission West
	Kevin Ward	Brandon Lesando	Blue Valley Southwest
	Ruby Wagner	Alex Toepfer	Shawnee Mission East
	Alex Wood	Chad Coughlin	Olathe South