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Celebrating the Arts District 59 Style

Over the past few weeks, students, parents, and community members celebrated music and art within CCSD59 at two incredible events.

On February 28, CCSD59 hosted the annual Choral Festival at Friendship Junior High School. More than five hundred students from thirteen different choirs participated. Over one thousand audience members watched the performances.

Parent Kelly Skiple, whose daughter Allison performed with Friendship’s Concert Choir said, “I enjoyed listening to the participating schools perform their vocal arrangements. The arrangements ranged from pop, jazz, swing, and foreign language.  It was a nice variety of performances with boy’s choir, girl’s choir, mixed groups and soloist performances. Each school was excited and enthusiastic to perform for an audience after  many hours of practicing.You can tell that the students worked very hard and gave their absolute best performance.”

Each choir was evaluated by a panel of music educators. Steve Sivak, current Choral Director of District 211, and Catherine DeLanoy, who recently retired from Westmont Junior High School, served as judges on the panel. The judges provided workshops for choir members after the performances.

Elementary school students were excited that they were able to perform with students at the junior high level and saw a glimpse of the opportunities that await them. Parents enjoyed seeing how a piece evolves and changes from its origins instead of only seeing the end result.

Mrs. Jessica Zolmierski, music and chorus teacher at Friendship Junior High and host of the festival this year, commented, “I just loved the energy that the day brought all around. All the groups have been preparing for months for this particular event. It is that intrinsic satisfaction of a job well done. I love the interaction between the choirs and the clinician, and seeing the faces of the students as they get feedback, ideas, and work with that guest clinician.”

On March 14, the annual CCSD59 Fine Arts Festival took place at Holmes Junior High to showcase the the wide variety of art education that happens everyday within the district.

Over 800 pieces of student-created art was on display, demonstrating a wide variety of mediums. Students from Holmes displayed the result of an interdisciplinary project combining music and visual art, where they created a piece of artwork and wrote a musical composition with the same mood and rhythm as their artwork. Attendees of the festival were able to hear the students’ original composition by scanning a QR code adjacent to the artwork.

Over 180 students performed in musical pieces, including the grand finale, which featured combined choirs from all CCSD59 schools. Students performed a piece titled “The Beginning of Love” based on a famous quote from Mother Teresa – “Let us always meet each other with a smile, for a smile is the beginning of love.” There was also an interactive art area where guests were able to create their own marble painting.

Mrs. Jennifer McMillian, who teaches both Fine Arts and Math at Holmes, said of the event, “We hope our audience gets an idea of what we do here in District 59 in the arts and how we integrate them into so many things we do throughout our day. The arts aid our students in becoming ready for a 21st Century workplace by tapping into and expanding their creativity, their ability to collaborate, and their critical thinking skills.”

Mrs. Skiple, whose other daughter Rebecca plays clarinet at Friendship, expressed her support of the Fine Arts and why they are so important. “These types of Fine Arts events are very important to schools because it gives the children a chance to express themselves, whether it be vocally, with an instrument, or with an artist’s brush. It builds self confidence and encourages the children to perform in front of an audience and not be afraid, builds camaraderie among the students, and allows them to be proud of their talents.”

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