SAN LEANDRO, CA, February 8, 2021 – San Leandro High School junior Arinze Jiroh is one of five students to win the National Hamilton Education Competition. As soon as current health conditions improve and Broadway theaters reopen, he will get to fly to New York City to see Hamilton on Broadway, go backstage and meet the cast of Hamilton.  He will also get to perform his award-winning Hamilton project on stage at the Richard Rodgers theater. 

San Leandro High School has been very fortunate to win the EduHam ticket lottery many times which has allowed students to attend Hamilton free of charge. Due to current theater closures, EduHam decided to create a national competition while they were unable to provide local performances. There were hundreds of submissions from across the U.S. vying to be one of the five chosen as Outstanding Performance Winners for Fall 2020. 

The EduHam competition required students to create a performance piece (song, rap, skit, poem, or monologue) based on an analysis of multiple primary sources related to a person or event from the Founding Era. US History teacher Emily Solberg’s classes all submitted entries, and there was a winner in the group! 

Arinze’s monologue focuses on Prince Hall, an early abolitionist who created the first black freemasons lodge in the U.S. and protested the lack of schools for African-American children. Here is Arinze’s monologue as Prince Hall, shared with his permission. 

For more information about awards and recognitions happening across San Leandro Unified, go to www.slusd.us. 

The San Leandro Unified School District operates a comprehensive TK-12 program and an adult school at 14 campuses throughout San Leandro. The district educates its students by utilizing state-of-the-art technologies and innovative teaching strategies to help students achieve academic excellence and become collaborative and competitive in a global society. For more information, visit www.slusd.us