Can-Do Spirit and Life Skills: Carnegie Mellon Visits a Houston Magnet School

AMERICAN THEATRE: Roshunda Jones-Koumba holds court in the classroom. She is a teacher, mentor, friend, and sometimes therapist to nearly 200 students at G.W. Carver High School in Houston, where she’s served as the drama teacher for 18 years. The magnet school is a historical landmark in the Acres Home neighborhood, a predominantly Black community in the city’s northwest. Carver is known for its technology and engineering tracks, and, thanks to Jones-Koumba, a flourishing arts program with past productions including Hairspray, Memphis, Dreamgirls, and The Color Purple, which had a sprawling cast of 130. In January, G.W. Carver Magnet High School will be the first high school in the country to stage the jukebox tuner Summer: The Donna Summer Musical.