Johanna Beck joined Mehlville High School five years ago as the new theater arts teacher. Beck started from being the only performing arts teacher in her district to being nominated for Teacher of the Year here at Mehlville.

Beck values her students’ attributes beyond their performance in class, “Just being around theater kids makes these kids who feel like they’re alone feel so much better about themselves, and just to see them smile and like have a safe space is literally the reason I do this.”

Beck as of today has directed in total of 12 different plays and musicals. For Beck there are struggles, but it’s always worth the trouble.

“Trying to be a perfectionist but know that it’s not just my vision, it’s my students’ vision. I rely highly on my student designer-student crew to not just make it all about me. So I always try to think big and do big shows,” Beck said.

Her future isn’t clear but one thing for sure is her being here at Mehlville.

“As long as I can, I started out in the middle of nowhere in Nevada, and I knew that I didn’t wanna stay there for long, but I had to start my career somewhere, but now I have no plan of leaving,” Beck said.