Olathe Northwest High School has been named the 2026-27 KSHSAA Performing Arts School of Excellence, recognizing the strength of the school’s programs in music, theatre, speech and debate.
The honor is awarded by the Kansas State High School Activities Association and is intended to recognize schools that demonstrate broad success across multiple performing-arts disciplines. KSHSAA works with representatives from the Kansas Music Educators Association, Kansas Speech Communication Association and Kansas Thespians when selecting schools for recognition.
For Olathe Northwest, the distinction follows years of strong performances in the arts. The school’s orchestra program, for example, has earned straight “I” ratings at KSHSAA Large Group Festival in recent years and has been selected to perform at the Kansas Music Educators Association state conference. The program has also performed at venues including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
The school’s theatre students also continue to earn recognition. This year, Olathe Northwest students Rowan Elterich, Leah Greischar, Lyla Moreira, Maggie Sykes and Brooke Fedt earned International Thespian Excellence Awards in acting and musical theatre categories.
Olathe Northwest has been commended by KSHSAA in previous years, including the 2025-26 awards cycle, but this marks a step up to the top statewide honor. Last year, Lawrence Free State received the award, while Olathe Northwest was among the schools receiving commendation.
The recognition gives Olathe Public Schools another statewide performing-arts honor. Olathe East was named KSHSAA Performing Arts School of Excellence for the 2024-25 school year, showing that Olathe schools have now produced multiple recent winners.
For students and teachers at Olathe Northwest, the award recognizes something that can be difficult to achieve: not simply having one successful band, theatre production or debate team, but building excellence across several areas of the performing arts.
Congratulations to the Ravens and the students, teachers and directors who helped earn the statewide recognition.
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