LECANTO, Fla. — Lecanto High School faculty and students had a very special guest on Friday — alumni and actor, Miles Teller.
In a packed auditorium at Lecanto High School, the current crop of Panthers students welcome Teller home.
Teller returned to his alma mater for a student assembly to celebrate the naming of the school’s theater in his own name.
“I guess it was nice to know I’m still popular with the youth,” Teller said.
Teller walked out to thundering applause on the very stage he once performed on as a student at Lecanto High School. And now, 20 years later, it has been named in his honor.
“I was just in the dressing room earlier tonight and I was having all of these memories,” said Teller, who graduated in 2005. “I mean, that’s where I got ready to go on and perform. So, you think actors come from maybe certain drama high schools that have performing arts schools that have a lot of money put in the program. We just did it based on passion.”
It’s that passion that drove Teller to pursue acting. Having starred in his high school’s rendition of “Footloose” where he played Willard Hewitt.
It was a role he wold also play on the silver screen. To recognize Teller and his achievements, Lecanto High School announced the dedication of the Miles Teller Theatre at the Curtis Peterson Auditorium.
“From now on, anyone who performs on this stage can begin dreaming their own dreams and may become the next Hollywood superstar,” said Dr. Scott Hebert, superintendent of Citrus County Schools.
And that’s not all. Teller and his wife — Keleigh Teller — presented a $50,000 donation to the Citrus County Education Foundation during the assembly.
“There’s kids that are going to high school here that are truly homeless that are living in the woods who were abandoned by their parents,” Teller said. “It’s a horrible circumstance, bad hand to be dealt. And so any time I think you can help people that are underprivileged, everybody should have a right to an education and clean clothes and food.”
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