Anthony Alumni

I ran into the mother of two TAS alums the other evening. We were both grabbing last minute items at the grocery store before this most recent winter weather hit. It was so delightful to catch up on her two girls. I learned that one is a CPA and the other is tapping into her creativity and art degree down in New Orleans.

Neither one of these paths surprises me; although it is not uncommon for our graduates to “grow up" and veer off into a different direction than we had anticipated…and to do it quite successfully. TAS remains the place to try it all! We are that soft landing for failures (FAIL = First Attempt In Learning). We continue to offer exposure to so much in our quest to reach/teach the whole child.

Read on for more TAS alum highlights and be sure you check out the photos below of our Commons renovation.

We would love to hear from you! Email or drop by anytime!

Shana Nolen

Head of School

Tickets are on sale for our spring event: April 5, 2025. Do you have an item to donate for our silent auction? Reach out to Melissa Wolfe to learn more. Grab a friend - and grab some tickets! We can't wait to see you back on campus.

Can't attend? You can still bid on our auction items. Watch our social media pages - the auction will open for bidding at the end of March.

Click here to purchase your early bird tickets today! (Early bird prices end on February 28. Must be 21 or older to attend).

For the longest time, it was the heart of the school. The gym. The stage. The kitchen and cafeteria. The early childhood art room and computer lab. Our theater program was born on that stage, and look at it now! Hundreds of P.E. students climbed the rope that still hangs; today they utilize professional pull-up bars in our gymnasium. The Commons has been the location for a variety of classes: Project-Based Learning, Global Studies, Strings, French, Music, Technology, STEAM, and more!

Still – geographically – the center of our campus, it has the opportunity to return to the hub it once was…to serve ALL of our students at TAS instead of only those in early childhood and lower elementary. It is past time to renovate this space. The Commons is certainly deserving of that.

The renovated space will contain 4 classrooms: PreK3-2nd Grade Art Studio, 3rd-8th Grade Art Studio (with rated kiln room), STEAM Classroom, and Music Classroom that includes an acoustically sound recording space.

The space is scheduled to open in August 2025. Check out our social media pages for updates!

Our TAS Class of 2021 reunion (for alumni and parents) will be held in the cafeteria on Sunday, April 27th at 2pm.

Class of 2021 Alumni - please wear a shirt that represents your future plans (college t-shirt, etc.) - we will take a group photo at 2:15pm!

Our TAS Class of 2017 came back in January to reunite. It was a great time for the group to gather before they all graduate from college in May. We had a great turnout and they enjoyed being together.

Recently, TAS represented Arkansas at the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta. The group won an award for Excellence in Ensemble for their performance of Moana Jr.! Huge congrats to Violet Steward '21 for winning Best Individual Performance (only about 25 kids out of thousands win this prestigious award!).

Click here to watch Nicole Podesta and Violet Steward's interview on KATV.

Miles Tillemans '21 auditioned for, and was chosen for a spot on the Junior Theater Festival International All-Star team. Only 6 U.S. kids received a spot on the team out of thousands of applicants. Not only was Miles given the opportunity of a lifetime by being part of this team- he received the All Star Award out of everyone on the All Star team! Nicole Podesta said, "Our goal as part of TAS drama team- is to give our students the confidence, inspiration, and love of theater so that they go out into our community and world- and share their talents!"

Our House Board Chair, Cynthia Frazier, won Board Member of the Year at the Arkansas Business Executive of the Year awards. Cynthia is an Anthony alumna. Her three daughters attended TAS from PreK through 8th grade.

Brooke Melton is currently on tour with "Come From Away" Broadway National Tour as a standby for Beverley and Diane. One of the costume pieces Brooke wears for Beverley is a vest with a very familiar pattern...the same fabric that was on the benches in the front lobby when Brooke attended TAS! (Circa early - mid 2000s)

A big congrats to Bella Angtuaco '21 for being named a National Merit Finalist in the 2025 National Merit Scholarship Competition. Bella is among approximately 15,000 high school seniors nationwide who have met all the requirements to advance to Finalist standing. Way to go, Bella!

Have you seen a TAS alum featured in some good or exciting news? Share that info on the TAS Alumni Facebook page or email Melissa Wolfe!

Our Hoopfest & Chili Cook-Off was held in early December, and it was so much fun! We spotted so many alumni back on campus and we loved it.

Make sure to join us again on April 5th for our fundraiser - and mark your calendar to attend our Hoopfest & Chili Cook-Off again in December 2025. Want to help with planning for events? Reach out to Melissa Wolfe.

Have you joined our Facebook group for TAS Alumni? We are here to support each other, share information about TAS, and promote alumni events.

We want to stay in touch with our alumni! Are you a parent of an alum? Please forward this information to your child (and their friends) and ask them to provide us with their contact information. Click here to update your alumni contact information and help us keep our contact lists up-to-date!

We will keep you updated on our future alumni events (as soon as we can safely gather in larger groups) and exciting things happening at the school.

Do you have alumni friends who did not receive this email? We need their address - please forward this newsletter to them and ask them to update their information!