Chanel Smith scrunches up her face to mimic the reaction she gets when she tells people she goes to Nanakuli High.

Nanakuli High & Intermediate School is at the bottom of just about every academic list: lowest graduation rate, lowest state test scores, highest dropout rate.

But the junior is undeterred.

She simply jumps onstage with her troupe from the Nanakuli Performing Arts Center and dances and sings her heart out. That shows people that assumptions about a school do not do justice to its kids.

"They’re just flabbergasted" after a performance, said Smith, who dreams of becoming a doctor. "It makes you feel better."

The kids at the learning arts center, called Nanakuli’s "best-kept secret," have made it their mission to turn around the school’s image — one gig at a time.

And now, as part of that goal, the program is heading all the way to Edinburgh, Scotland.

NPAC will perform in August at the prestigious Fringe Festival, a three-week, citywide showcase of the arts.

Nanakuli was one of 2,200 American high schools nominated to participate in the festival and one of only 62 selected. The center is working to raise $110,000 to attend Fringe and has already passed the $57,000 mark.

Nanakuli is not the first Hawaii high school to perform in the festival, but the school’s participation is quickly becoming a source of immense pride for a community that is used to coming in last — and for a school that is "supposedly dysfunctional," said NPAC Director Robin Kitsu, who is also Nanakuli High’s curriculum coordinator.

This semester, there are 42 kids in the after-school performing arts program, but only 15 (plus Kitsu and a few alumni volunteers) will go to Fringe because of the high travel costs.

Most center members attend Nanakuli High & Intermediate, but some come from other high schools and a few are from neighboring middle and elementary schools.

The youngest member is in fourth grade.

Kitsu said the accolades for the program’s performances are nice, but he is not that concerned about being the best.

"The whole program is (about) building a culture of family," he said. "If you want to be a star, if you want to get intense training, this may not be the place. Our focus is to give everyone a chance."

There are no divas. Everybody gets a big role.

And there are plenty of opportunities to get a taste of the spotlight. In the 2009-10 school year, NPAC put on 16 community performances and two large-scale productions with multiple show dates.

Kitsu considers his center the equivalent of an athletic program for arts-minded kids.

And so, just like student athletes, NPAC members are reminded about schoolwork and urged to keep their grades up (or risk having to leave).

Most not only maintain their grades, but see improvement at school, thanks to courses at the center in everything from set design to stage lighting to dancing.

The center, launched in 1991, also boasts some impressive statistics:

» Some 82 percent of students at NPAC met state benchmarks for reading.

» About 90 percent of students, many of whom are considered "high-risk," graduate, compared with about 60 percent for Nanakuli High on average.

» Eighty-seven percent of NPAC seniors who graduated in the last three years are registered or enrolled in college.

Kitsu said students at the center do well because "they’re engaged."

The center, he added, "makes learning real and relevant."

On a recent afternoon the center’s members were practicing in Nanakuli High’s cafeteria, which doubles as a stage for performances.

They ran through a few numbers — including one set to Journey’s "Any Way You Want It" and a quick-stepping, fist-pumping dance for the Ready Set’s "Love Like Woe."

Keona Tanon, a Nanakuli 10th-grader, said he came to the center expecting to fade into the background. But that is not how it works, he quickly realized.

Now the 15-year-old, who never imagined himself onstage, can’t imagine himself anywhere else.

"I just love dancing," he said. "I live for the energy."

Samuel Hedin, also a 10th-grader at Nanakuli, said he has seen his reading grades improve since joining the program two years ago. It’s all those songs and lines he has to memorize, he surmised.

Hedin’s favorite role so far was actually three that he held in the musical "Rent," which the center put on last year.

Hedin added that he tries not to get bothered when people give him pitying looks because he attends Nanakuli.

"It’s not really the best idea to listen to stereotypes," he said. "There are a lot of good students here."

On the Net:

» Robin Kitsu and his students talk about the Performing Arts Learning Center: bit.ly/fvGK4N