March can be a long month to get through, but it is a month dedicated to celebrating and advocating for the arts in schools, so it is a great month too! And we had a LOT going on this past month as you'll see in the MANY pictures at the end of this blog!
We have a bunch more coming up this month as well from the return of a high school play to the season championships for our Winter Guards & Drumline to the CMS small ensembles concert. And then our annual Swing In celebration of jazz music. This year's guest artist is Camille Thurman, an amazing jazz singer and saxophonist. Our students are going to learn so much from working with her! After April break we will jump full steam ahead into May and the end of the school year. It really does fly by!
Keep track of our events and join us throughout the year - you'll be continually astonished by our amazing wildcats!
~Sarah Gentile
Exhibit schedule:
- WGIS --> 3/5 - 3/14 ✅
- Split Rock & Onondaga Road --> 3/19 - 3/28 ✅
- East Hill --> 4/2 - 4/11
- Stonehedge --> 4/16 - 4/27
- CMS --> 4/30 - 5/9
- WGHS --> 5/14 - 5/24
Check with Maxwell Memorial Library for hours of operation.
Based on the iconic 1985 Paramount movie which was inspired by the classic Hasbro board game, Clue: (On Stage) High School Edition is a hilarious farce-meets-murder mystery. The tale begins at a remote mansion, where six mysterious guests assemble for an unusual dinner party where murder and blackmail are on the menu. When their host turns up dead, they all become suspects. Led by Wadsworth (John Diem) – the butler, Miss Scarlett (Danyella Roper), Professor Plum (Joseph Panek), Mrs. White (Sophia Knowlton), Mr. Green (Jacob Scerbo), Mrs. Peacock (Samantha Bullock) and Colonel Mustard (Angelo Procopio) race to find the killer as the body count stacks up. Clue (On Stage, HS Edition) is the comedy whodunit that will leave both cult-fans and newcomers in stitches as they try to figure out…WHO did it, WHERE, and with WHAT?!
This WGHS drama club production is student-run under the guidance of Kristyn Sperduti and Anthony Alvaro. Director Cynthia Schlenker leads the team with Ty Harte as the Technical Director, John Panek as Costumer, and Lila Hennessy as prop mistress. Performances are Thursday, April 4 and Friday, April 5 at 7 PM in the West Genesee High School Auditorium.
Tickets will be sold at the door for $10.00.
Dr. Jared Chase serves as the Director of Wind Studies at Nazareth University (formerly Nazareth College, Rochester NY). Since joining Nazareth in 2012, Dr. Chase has spearheaded the remarkable expansion of the program, transforming it from a single band into a thriving and comprehensive band program. Under his visionary leadership, the program boasts an impressive array of ensembles, including the Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band, Night Flyers Campus-Community Band, Chamber Winds, Brass Choir, Saxophone Society, and two Jazz Ensembles.
West Genesee was excited to invite Dr. Chase to conduct the 2024 Festival of Bands to help students make more connections with NYS college band programs as well as continue the legacy of exceptional Festival of Bands conductors. The WGHS band ensembles spent two days rehearsing with and learning from Dr. Chase and then gave a spectacular concert on Thursday, March 7th. One student said after the concert, "It's exciting to learn and do new things with a guest conductor because it can make you feel comfortable taking risks, like with s different sound or a different kind of song to play." Great festival of bands this year and thank you Dr. Chase!
Stonehedge Elementary School presented a STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts Math) Showcase on Thursday, March 21st. In addition to sharing projects students are passionate or curious about, there was an all-school ceramics showcase and performances by the third grade chorus.
Mrs. Dougher and Mrs. Moser-Vogler, Stonehedge art educators, took on a major undertaking when committing to showcasing a piece of ceramic artwork for each and every student! It was an amazing sight to travel around the school building and see each grade level and artist represented. Having one artistic medium showcased also gave visitors the opportunity to see the development of skills and concepts at each grade level. One student proudly shared, "It was hard to get the clay to look how I wanted it to but I tried really hard and got it to happen!!"
Music teachers, Mrs. DeMartini and Mrs. Causer, decided to try something new with their 3rd Grade Chorus this year by having Informance performances to allow students to share their process of learning with their grown-ups. This led to three separate group performances throughout the night with students showcasing their skill development in singing, playing the recorder, and playing classroom instruments.
It was a wonderful night and a fabulous way to showcase the A in STEAM, especially during Arts in Schools Month!!
The Orchestra team brought back a staple of their program this year - the Around the World with Strings presentations! These performances had been cancelled during COVID regulations and some staff injuries but on March 26, 2024, they were able to restart again. The purpose of these presentations is to engage third graders at all four elementary schools with the family of string instruments in a positive and exciting way so that students can see the string instruments and hear that they can play all different kinds of music. The group structures this presentation as a travel tour playing 15 songs, making 12 stops in 11 countries and all in just 30 minutes!
Towards the end of the school year, with the instrumental music teachers, third graders will get a chance to select an instrument that they would like to study starting in fourth grade. This presentation helps them to become more familiar with the string family of instruments. And most importantly, the students were able to see six musicians collaborating on an amazing performance and absolutely LOVING making music together (the best advertisement for music!)! Thank you to Mrs. Cheney, Mrs. Edele, Mrs. Emerson, Mr. Mercer, Mrs. Mercer, and Mr. Reardon for four fantastic presentations!!
The Arts help Youth-at-Risk
- Studies by the U.S. Department of Justice researchers demonstrate increased pro-social behavior among youth involved with arts programs. The YouthARTS® Project demonstrates that these programs have a measurable impact on youth at risk in deterring delinquent behavior and truancy problems, promoting more pro-social behavior, improving communications skills with peers and adults, increased ability to complete tasks from start to finish, and fewer new court referrals. More (pdf, 138KB)
- Research by Dr. Shirley Brice Heath of Stanford University shows that "young people who are actively engaged in arts learning and arts productions improve their self esteem and confidence, assume leadership roles, and improve their overall school performance." What’s interesting: Dr. Heath wasn’t studying the arts—rather, studying after-school programs. Her data revealed a remarkable outlier of effectiveness—which turned out to be the arts. More (pdf, 1978KB).
