Some eighth grade students are putting the final touches on their end of the year performance.  This is the time of year when Salt Lake Arts Academy holds its gala, but this year, more than one scene has something a little different.

The whole performance has a different feeling because for the first time, there was some extra money so teachers were able to coordinate science, math and humanities with the art so all those lessons show up on stage.     

At a rehearsal Thursday, Salt Lake Arts Academy students played instruments and danced across the stage in scenes depicting exploration of early America.  Their gala raises money for the school, but the scripts, music and choreography are all produced by outgoing eighth graders.

"I guess you could say it's the best year," said Rachael Ainsworth.

A $30,000 grant from McCarthey Dressman Foundation allowed students to go on extra field trips so they explored places like the Cottonwood Canyons and the Bingham Canyon Mine to better understand why natural resources drew people to the Salt Lake Valley.  They debated the cost of destroying the landscape in order to have the things that make our lives more comfortable.

"We went to Kennecott, the Bingham mine," said Andrew King.

"With our science class and then we debated about it in our humanities class," said Chloe Kirkpatrick.

"It's very impressive.  Humongous!" exclaimed Truman Carter as he talked about the trip to Kennecott.

"There's a scene about a classroom debate about open pit mining around Salt Lake Valley," said Rachael Ainsworth.

"I think it's great we have debates in the gala because it's something we don't really see often," said Tanner Holcomb speaking about former galas.

Science teacher, Jeni White said the grant funded them extra meeting times to make that happen.

"That meant some of us had to adjust curriculums or the timing of the things we wanted to teach," said White.  "We wanted students to take a look at why they were here."

The students said they could see how the pieces of their education connected and express it through art.

The performance is called "Valuing Place."  There are tickets available through www.arttix.org for performances on Thursday and Friday.