By Lacey Chenault

Tara Burgess, Collegiate’s Fine Arts Assistant and Theater Manager, has shared her passion for the fine arts with Collegiate students for the past four years, and she is retiring at the end of this school year. Through her four years here at Collegiate, she has helped behind the scenes inside the Hershey Center for the Arts day and night. You can often find her sitting in the front of Hershey with a smile on her face, always willing to help.

Early in her career, Burgess taught elementary education for 13 years, and after teaching, she opened and owned a dance studio, called Gotta DANCE! School of Performing Arts, from 2004 to 2021, sharing her passion for dance with young people. What drew her to Collegiate was the ability to continue to share her passion for the arts with the community. 

Photo courtesy of Tara Burgess.

Collegiate’s dance program is one of the things that drew Burgess to the job. In an interview with The Match, she expressed that she loves the fine arts and could not see herself doing something not related to the arts. Burgess is very knowledgeable when it comes to the theater world; one example she shared with me is what a “ghost light” is and the superstitions around it in the theater community.

Burgess closed her dance studio and came to Collegiate after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The arts were heavily affected during COVID-19 due to the regulations, making it very hard to continue teaching. She sold her studio to one of the dance teachers, but she did not feel the need to retire at that point, and she knew she wanted to continue her love for the fine arts. This is when she found Collegiate. She described it as though “this job just fell into my lap, and I was blown away by the program.”

Burgess has been heavily involved in the management of Oates Theater. This includes helping design posters, selling tickets for shows, organizing shows, and making seating arrangements inside the theater. She also greets visiting families for Senior Speeches and assemblies. She enjoys her role at Collegiate because it allows her to “meet new people every day from all different ages,” as she works with all three divisions of the school. She shared with me that, by the time graduation rolls around, she has “met all of the families, and that this role has really opened up my world.” 

Burgess is loved all around campus by faculty and students. Upper School English teacher, Match advisor, and Senior Speech Czar Vlastik Svab commented, “I’ve worked closely with Ms. Burgess in the theater preparing for Senior Speeches and assemblies. She always has a smile on her face, and she often comes to the theater in the morning, playing music on her phone, to set a positive tone on the day. She’ll be greatly missed!”

Even though only at Collegiate for four years, Burgess has made a lasting impact on our community. Students and faculty will miss seeing her smile and her energetic presence around campus.