East Ridge High School student Katherine Spicuzza

As Katherine Spicuzza will tell you, there’s no rest for the weary. The East Ridge High School senior spent her summer performing in theater productions and competitions, and her accolades are steadily rising, even at age 17. She received a coveted Outstanding Performance Award from the Hennepin Theatre Trust’s SpotLight program for her performance as Martha Watson East Ridge’s 2012 production of White Christmas. She says the role was one of her favorites, and she’s passionate about East Ridge’s theater program. “[Students] build the sets, costumes … everything,” she says. “They’re running every single aspect of the show.” Theater also helped Spicuzza transition to East Ridge when she arrived as a freshman from a small private school. “It was this great community … a group of kids just like me,” she says. She’s paying it forward now as the president of East Ridge Ambassadors, an organization that helps new students get acclimated to the school, and also as co-president of drama club. And she’s getting ready for an “academically rigorous year” with five AP classes and college applications.This fall, you can catch Spicuzza in East Ridge’s production of Aida and keep an eye out for this quickly rising star.