Taylorsville High School raising money to renovate auditorium

TAYLORSVILLE, Utah — Taylorsville High School is trying to raise half a million dollars to renovate its auditorium. 

Leah Tarrant has been teaching choirs at Taylorville High for 27 years. She is only the second choir director in the school’s history.

The school was built in 1981. Tarrant said that over the years, the seats have gotten quite worn.

“Those chairs have been here from the very beginning, never been replaced. And… all the padding and cushioning and everything is just like completely disappeared.”

She said the seats aren’t the only things that need replacing. The lights are also 43 years old.

Most of the lights onstage are not LED lights, so they get really hot.

“We almost had a fire one time because they were too close to the dance floor and… we saw smoke.”

They also don’t provide enough lighting, leaving the stage too dark. The rigging for the lighting itself also needs upgrades, Tarrant said.

“We also have some like catwalk things where the lights are that need some safety precautions. Like, we need to raise the bar so that the kids can go up and move the lights.”

Along with new seating and lighting, Tarrant said the school also needs about 16 to 24 new mics resurfacing for the stage.

“A lot of our kids are going on to things like stage managing, and costume, and lighting, but they’re working on 20 to 30-year-old equipment. So, when they go to school, they don’t really know what they’re doing and they’re having to relearn everything because they are working on old archaic instruments here.”

Feeling pride

Tarrant said the school also wants the students to be able to take pride in the auditorium.

“We have all-state here and all these schools from all over the state come to our auditorium, to rehearse for two and a half days. And…these high school kids who come from all these new and kind of medium new high schools and they come into this little auditorium and it’s just — I’m tired of being embarrassed by it.”

“I want the kids to like, be lifted. That’s the goal. I want them to be lifted up and I feel like our surroundings sometimes can make people judge ahead of time.”

Tarrant said the school is due for a remodel but that likely won’t be until 2028.

The upgrades for the auditorium will cost more than $500,000 but Tarrant said that’s where they wanted to start.

“We decided to go big because why not?”

Anyone who wants to donate can go to the Granite Education Foundation page.

Tarrant said the foundation is taking the donations because the school’s employees already have a lot on their plate.

“This is a big high school and so [the] Granite Education Foundation has taken on this project with us and so all the money goes there and then all that money is going to go right into the auditorium.”

Right now, they’re about 3% of the way to that $500,000 goal.

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