In Celebration of Arts in Education Month, the Rockford Area Arts Council is publishing stories both personal and informative about the arts and why it is imperative to have quality arts experiences for all students.
Below is a story by Lorie Langan about her daughter.
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My daughter was never a super student. Academics at times interested her, she made good grades because she was a good kid and didn’t want to suffer the stigma of ‘failure’. She struggled with the social ‘go along to get along’ atmosphere most high school kids endure. Don’t get me wrong, she was (and is) quite intelligent, capable, and creative. Once she hit her stride in college – she blossomed.
Even though she chose to go the route of pursuing a science degree, the subject that she loved most in high school was music. Her elective jazz band class met at 7:15 in the morning twice a week. That was the thing that got her out of bed in the morning. She started learning a musical instrument in elementary school – in a private school (an opportunity not available in our public schools unfortunately). She took a break her freshman year in high school to pursue another interest – visual art, but found she missed the music too much and went back to band.
Quite simply, band saved her in high school. She managed to negotiate the academics, she made friends and hung with a group of great kids. Most of those kids she met in band. She began to pursue music more seriously adding piano to her extra curricular activities and studying her instrument privately. As her musical accomplishments piled up, she won an audition to play in the Rockford Symphony Youth Orchestra, her sense of self worth, self discipline, and all those great skills we recognize as a benefit of participating in an ‘team’ situation truly developed.
Most significantly the leadership and inspiration she found in her high school band director Ms. Beth Heuer, made all the difference in her success. Ms. Heuer (who now teaches at Auburn High School) empowered her – to be a team leader, to pursue excellence, to embrace opportunity. Not all music teachers are cut from the same cloth as Beth Heuer; she’s a jewel. And not all kids who take band or chorus in school are as inspired as my daughter. All I can say is that without the opportunity to have had that experience, high school would have been a very different place for my daughter.
As parents and community members, we need to make sure ALL children get the opportunity to shine, to find their ‘bliss’, and without the chance who knows who is really Left Behind.
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For more information on how you can support the arts in schools please contact the Rockford Area Arts Council:
815-963-6765
