JaVaughn Davis of Kecoughtan High School wins Hamilton Education Program Online competition

JaVaughn Davis, a senior at Kecoughtan High School, has been selected as an Outstanding Performance winner of the Hamilton Education Program Online competition. His submission, Sam Adams Rap, was completed as a capstone project for the performance pathway of the On Stage Performing Arts Academy and was one of three videos selected for submission into the national competition.

The goal of the Hamilton Education Program Online is to provide teachers with the necessary resources to help students in grades 6 through 12 see the relevance of the Founding Era by using primary sources to create a performance piece (e.g., rap, poem, dramatic scene), following the model used by Lin-Manuel Miranda to create the musical Hamilton. The Program is sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.

“JaVaughn is an immensely talented and deserving young man, and it is wonderful that our Academy students had this opportunity to have their performances recognized on a national level,” said Tracy Bourne, theatre director at Kecoughtan High.

As a winner of the competition, Davis will be flown to New York City in the fall of 2021 (or when COVID-19 restrictions allow) with one adult chaperone to attend a Hamilton Education Program full-day theater experience with high school students from the tri-state area. The trip includes a matinee performance of Hamilton.