Tis' the season for good will, giving and music galore. The bands at Greenville High School and Greenville Middle School have taken that idea to heart this season and have given the phrase "the gift of music" a whole new meaning.
The Greenville High School Lion Pride Band has recently raised $1604.75 to donate to Greenville CASA. The donation will be made during the bands Holiday Concert on Thurs., Dec. 18th at 7 p.m.
CASA
(Court Appointed Special Advocates), among many other things, helps to raise
money each year for kids that have been placed into Child Protective Services
and would not otherwise have any holiday gifts.
"Last
year, we helped 5 of the CASA kids have a brighter holiday season by providing
all the gifts on their 'wish' lists, and we presented them to Debbie Driggers
on the night of our concert." said GHS band director, Joel Weisberg. "This
year," he continued, "our BLT (Band Leadership Team) wanted to 'up' our commitment and try to
help 15 students. With our immediate alumni, and the open hearts of our
band members, we collected $1604.75 to purchase gifts for 15 kids."
This year,
Celeste Prather will be at the band's Holiday Concert to
accept the individual gift bags for the 15 kids.
Greenville Middle School band director, Kent Tidwell, recently applied for a TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association) grant created to allow middle school band, orchestra, and choir teachers (grades 6–8) to purchase sheet music for use during this school year. The TMEA created the grant program to support middle school music programs throughout the state. The
Board approved $500,000 in funding for this grant and has directed the TMEA
staff to administer the program this fall.
On November 12, Mr. Tidwell was notified that TMEA had accepted
his application and awarded the GMS 'Lion Pride' Band a grant in the amount of
$980.00. This represents the amount of 16 UIL selections Mr. Tidwell
hand-selected and requested from the State UIL Prescribed Music List.
The overwhelming amount of love and work that went into both of these accomplishments is wonderful to see. "When and if you wonder whether or not we work with great kids..." said Weisberg, "we do."
