Help Lawrence HS Win Funds to Repair Auditorium

Lawrence High School could be awarded funds to improve its Sandy-damaged auditorium if it receives enough online votes in NBC’s “Smash” and Lowe’s national initiative to improve school theater programs.

The five schools that receive the most votes in “Smash’s Make A Musical Presents Lowe’s Improving School Theaters” will receive a $3,000 gift card that can be used to improve the school’s performance space. Anyone can vote from a single computer every 24 hours by clicking here.

Prior to Lawrence High School shutting down due to a possible failure of its electrical system and its students temporarily transferred to the middle school, its auditorium had to be closed off for repairs due to flooding from Superstorm Sandy. Water had seeped under the stage, and the room's carpeting and seating cushions had to be replaced.

“This auditorium represents the students’ collective creativity in a very tangible way.  Winning this contest will help us believe that we are ‘back and better than ever,’” wrote Ruth Enriquez, student body president at Lawrence High School, in an email to Patch. “Overcoming adversity has become part and parcel of life in our resilient South Shore community, not only for those displaced by Sandy but the entire student body.”

The voting period ends on April 10, and winners will be announced the next day.

High school students are set return to the Reilly Road school after about two months in the middle school on April 3.

The initiative has helped rebuild and restore the auditorium of nearby East Rockaway High School, which was also destroyed by Sandy.