Proctors HSMTA winners at the Jimmys

Proctors High School Musical Theatre Award winners Patrick Shannon and Jaynie Parmenter spent a week in New York City rehearsing for the Jimmys.

It was hardly a vacation.

They were up before 7 a.m. every day, running all over the city for rehearsals, coaching and special events. By the end of each day, they were exhausted.

But the winners of the Proctors High School Musical Theatre Awards both said they’d participate in the Jimmy Awards again in a heartbeat.

“You’re learning so much, you’re taking in so much,” said Jaynie Parmenter of Voorheesville High School. “It’s all about learning here.”

Parmenter and Patrick Shannon won the best actress and best actor awards in Proctors, sending them on a path to compete and perform with kids from across the country.

Ben Platt, star of Dear Evan Hanson, will host the 9th annual Jimmy Awards. The program, which provides scholarships to students, is designed to celebrate achievement in high school musical theatre.

“I think there’s kids from as far as California,” Shannon said. “It’s pretty interesting that we all have this same passion and we all can relate about this one thing even though we’re spread so far apart.”

“Their participation is raising the awareness of the amazing programs and talents that we have in the region at a national level.”