M. CLINTON MERRITT (Technical Director/Instructor & Beginning Acting Teacher) is a graduate of UAB where he received a B.A. in Theatre.  He then completed his M.F.A. in Theatre at Florida Atlantic University. Mr. Merritt has been teaching for fourteen years.  He served as an adjunct Professor of Theatre at UAHuntsville and at Calhoun Community College. He taught at Hazel Green High School for 7 years before joining forces with Mrs. Patel at JCHS in 2014 as the Technical Theatre Instructor.  Mr. Merritt was Teacher of the Year at HGHS during the 2012/2013 school year. Mr. Merritt has written and received grants from ING, the Alabama State Council of the Arts, the Alabama Dept. of Education, the Alabama License Tag Committee & he also collaborated with local legislators to secure thousands of dollars worth of funds for his theatre programs.  Mr. Merritt was a 2013 Fund For Teachers Fellow. Mr. Merritt was the Alabama Conference of Theatre’s 2016 Secondary Teacher of the Year for the state of Alabama. Mr. Merritt is currently serving as the Treasurer of the Alabama Educational Theatre Association and has been since 2014. In December of 2018, Mr. Merritt and Mrs. Patel were both recognized as National Board Certified Teachers. This past summer Mr. Merritt attended the National Educational Theatre Advocacy Day in Washington DC where he met with our federal government representatives' offices (Senator Jones, Senator Shelby & Congressman Brooks) to advocate for Educational Theatre.  Mr. Merritt has been married to his wonderful wife Jessica for thirteen years and they have two children, Noah & McKayla.  They also have a beagle named Milli Vanilli.  In his spare time, Mr. Merritt likes listening to music, reading, going to concerts, traveling, spending time on the water & cooking.