North High teacher who resurrected dance program gets surprise visit from ‘GMA’

Minneapolis North High School teacher Kara Noble thought she was appearing on a network news show to talk about the importance of dance and performance arts classes.

Nope.

Noble’s students wanted the world to know how much they appreciate her and covertly arranged for ABC’s “Good Morning America” to show up at the school Tuesday to celebrate Noble on National Teacher Appreciation Day.

With her students standing behind her, “GMA” host Becky Worley told Noble, “it’s all about you, today.”

Noble arrived at North High three years ago, when the once integral part of the school’s culture needed a revival. Enrollment in dance had fallen to fewer than 10 students. One class had just two students.

Noble opened the doors that fall and within a few months, enrollment soon soared.

“Her level of engagement and connectivity with the students, by Thanksgiving we were pushing 40 to 50 to 60 kids who wanted to enroll in dance,” Principal Mauri Friestleben told “GMA.”

“I want to thank you for believing in me, believing in my talents,” student dancer Taylor Pettis told “GMA.”

Noble was quite taken aback by all the attention.

“I believed all of you. I thought we were celebrating dance,” she told Worley during the five-minute segment. “North Community High School is such a powerful place to be and I feel honored to be accepted in this space, and in this community. They are like my children.”

The students got a surprise, too. Members of the University of Minnesota dance team showed up and invited the North Legacy Dancers to perform at halftime of a Gophers football game this fall. And Noble and her 5-year-old daughter were given a trip to Disneyland.