Flashback Friday: Broadway's Aaron Samuels and Pearl Krabs Started as Jimmy Award Winners

The Jimmy Awards turn 10 this Monday at the Minskoff Theatre where this year's group of high school finalists will vie for the highly competitive Best Actor and Best Actress awards. For the past 10 years, the Jimmy Awards have become more than just a musical theater competition for teenage talent — they have been a launching pad for some of Broadway's rising stars. If you want proof, just look at two of this season's biggest musicals.

Jai'Len Christine Li Josey is currently making her Broadway debut as Pearl Krabs in SpongeBob SquarePants but her performance of "Raise the Roof" from The Wild Party earned her the 2014 Best Actress title. A few blocks north at the August Wilson Theatre Kyle Selig is playing high school stud Aaron Samuels in Mean Girls but when he was actually in high school he won the 2010 Best Actor award for her performance of "The Streets of Dublin" from Ahrens and Flaherty's A Man of No Importance.

High school memories have never been so un-embarrassing, so we're flashing back to both of them in honor of the blossoming Jimmys community, and the many Broadway stars it's yet to foster.