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Staff and Shield RCS High School Newspaper

Adviser: Mrs. Stumbaugh

Editors-in Chief: Sarah Eckl and Abigail Varney

Content Editor: Emma Rowzee

Layout and Design Editor: Mackenzie Therrien

Insider of RCS History Guru

Written by Meghan Borger

It is difficult to decide what you want to spend the rest of your life doing. For many people, what you end up doing is not what you originally thought you would do. That was the case for RCS U.S. History teacher: Jennifer Patnode.

In a recent interview, Patnode recalls thinking as a child that she would be a doctor. However, that all changed after a day of classes at Hudson Valley Community College. Patnode decided that being a doctor wasn’t what she wanted, and that there was something else out there that could be a better fit.

Patnode began taking teaching classes through Hudson Valley, earning her two year degree in Liberal Arts. She then continued on to graduate from Russell Sage with her bachelor’s in History and Elementary Education. She finished her education at SUNY Albany with a master’s degree in History.

When Patnode was a young girl she was always interested in politics and elections. She remembers running a homemade election booth in her fifth grade class, taught by her inspiration for becoming a teacher later in life, Ms. Collins. It was in this class that Patnode experienced being a teacher as well as the joy and excitement that came along with it.

Patnode says that “seeing kids think critically and deeper” is one of her favorite things about teaching. She goes on to say that, “Young minds learning is amazing… it makes my day… [It’s] the little things”. She even says that the best feeling is “being able to to see kids grow throughout their four years in high school”, as well as “letting the kids be themselves because that is what I wanted as a kid”.

Patnode has been teaching for 20 years, and when asked if she would retire if she had the choice to she replied saying “No, but I do think it should be offered”. It is clear to many that Patnode is passionate about teaching. She states that, “If you’re going to be a teacher, you should truly understand the undertaking of becoming a teacher”.

Patnode has a relatable past, and is another example of someone whose life went in a completely different direction than she intended it to. Many people have experienced this, and Ms. Patnode is one of the people that found something she loves to do.

Procrastination (noun): ...I’ll just look it up later

Written By Rylee Polverelli

Most people put things off until the last minute. Many procrastinate because they believe that things should be done perfectly. Most become frustrated while trying to do every task perfect that they tend to get very little done. There are also those who tend to be more on the lazy side, and have trouble putting time aside to do actually sit down and do their work.

There are many different opinions on why people procrastinate, but the results are usually the same. An endless cycle of anxiety, avoidance, and stress. Nothing gets done, and you can't enjoy anything with that guilt hanging over your head.

Looking at what goes into making up your day, how do you know what to prioritize and what to hold off on, how do you keep the stress levels down and how do you avoid distractions?

The number one thing to do is plan ahead and prioritize your time. One of the worst things you can do is go through your day or even week without a clear idea about what needs to get done. So take 10 minutes out of your day to plan out the rest of your week.

The night before put together a list of the next day’s or week's most important tasks. Or, first thing in the morning, wake up 10 minutes earlier to put a list together of what needs to be done by the end of the day. Lists might seem cliché, but they’re the most useful thing while trying to organize your daily routines.

If you want to succeed and get every important task done, making checklists and prioritizing your tasks is very important. Start off by putting a list together from the most important task to get done to the least important and check them off as you complete them throughout each day.

Say you have a test on Friday but you have a project due Thursday. The project might be more important because the due date is closer so that should go at the top of your list. Then, after finishing the project first, it will give you a sense of accomplishment and motivate you to tackle other tasks.

Another thing to do is eliminate all distractions. When trying to complete an important task try and stay secluded from others. Something as simple as someone talking in the same room can be distracting and slow down your process.

Most importantly, put away all social media platforms. Although phones are useful in some cases, it’s also can be addictive and distract you from ever completing your task. Something that would normally take 20 minutes could take you an hour because of distracting messages or other notifications.

If you need to be on social media or answer messages/email then plan a break in the day to catch up on all that.

Procrastination is a threat to everyone, especially those in our schools. If we stay organized and are motivated to get what we need to done, then this plague may not affect us as much as it already does. It is a real problem, and even an easy, simple thing like a list can do a lot to help.

New Resource Officer at RCS: Deputy Patti

Written by Mackenzie Therrien

Over the past few years, RCS has seen several different school resource officers from Coeymans Police Dept. as each new school year begins. At the start of the 2018-19 school year, students arrived to school seeing a new vehicle parked out front.

This year, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk High School has partnered with the Albany County Sheriff's Department and Sheriff Deputy Brian Patti as the new School Resource Officer (SRO). The two are coming together to find the best way to provide safety and order to the school, and I had the chance to sit down with Deputy Patti to ask him a wide variety of questions about how he got to where he is today, his position on gun violence and his ways of dealing with issues he has to deal with at our school.

As a kid, the sheriff always knew he wanted to be either a fireman or police officer. After high school, he decided to go to school for aviation to become a pilot, but due to the high costs of the school Patti decided to switch to criminal justice. “I worked for Albany County for many years before this position so I knew a lot of the senior deputies and they took me under their wing. So when I had a chance to go into the academy, I took it.”

For some students seeing a sheriff in school with a gun and handcuffs on him can be pretty nerve-racking, although, Deputy Patti doesn’t feel students felt like that at all. “I feel that it’s been going very well,” he said. “At first, me being new in this position I wasn’t sure how it was going to go but I was told to give it some time and everybody would warm up to my presence in the school.”

The faculty and administration welcomed the sheriff with open arms but the students definitely took some time to get used to seeing him everyday. “...now I get all of the “hellos” from everyone in lunch and in the halls between classes. It really makes my day seeing you guys.”

One of the biggest issues RCS is dealing with is the vaping and juuling in school. It is illegal for anyone under the age of 18 to purchase a nicotine device. However, many students find a way around this by having older friends or family buy these for them. I asked Patti what he and the administration are trying to do to stop students from inhaling these harmful chemicals. “It is a serious topic and we consider it the same as smoking cigarettes because it is nicotine based, and I am using a trick that another resource officer showed me and it’s working pretty well. We’ve been guarding the doors of the bathrooms and things like that and I would like to do something with the doors and them being closed, but there are issues with that because visibility wise, it restricts your guys’ privacy.”

Another topic RCS is always thinking about is the safety of our school. The number of school shootings has risen greatly over the past few years and it has raised some questions as to what the school and Albany Count Sheriffs Department doing to keep the schools safe. “I feel that every school should have a resource officer for the what if factor, and our vehicles being parked out front and officers being inside is a deterrence, and that is why we are here, to protect you guys. Our main goal is on the security of the school, so we take it very seriously at our department.”

Girls Volleyball Program Thrives Through Fall Season

Written By Christopher Miller

As senior night came to a close for the RCS Varsity Girls Volleyball Team, Senior Mackenzie Therrien hit the ball over the net leading the Indians to win the set 25-21 and the match three sets to one. In a night filled with emotions for the seniors and everyone on the team, RCS would come out with the win, as they have many times this season.

In a sports season usually dominated by football and Friday night lights, many other sports teams at Ravena are overlooked. One of these teams is the girls volleyball team. Volleyball has shown up as an emerging power in Colonial Council, winning 11 games and only dropping 3 this season. The three losses were not blowouts either. All three games were close, with one of them going into five matches. Seven out of the eleven wins for the team were 3-0 shutouts.

This teams success has not come unexpectedly. Regular season games last from August to October, but a lot of their work was done in the offseason. Whether it is morning practices on the weekend or summer workouts, these players came ready to play.

The team set high expectations for the season. Their final goal is to make states. This is tough considering they have to rough their way through a hard Colonial Council schedule and then will need to go on and beat the best teams in Section 2 Class B. Despite the odds, the girls have already proven their worth by beating big names in the Council like Cobleskill.

Another factor that contributed to their success is the chemistry of the players on and off the court. Out of the twelve current players on the roster, ten are seniors. The dynamic of this amount of seniors brings a different chemistry to the team. These seniors bring leadership, responsibility, and experience allowing for an environment that fosters success.

Senior Captain Rylee Polverelli said, “We [the ten seniors] have been playing as a team for six years, we grew up playing together. We have also been through many ups and downs but have fought through them.”

During senior night, many of the seniors talked about how their freshman season, when they went undefeated on JV, was their greatest memory. Hardwork and dedication has always run through this group of players and their work has finally paid off.

With ten seniors it might look dismal for next year, but this volleyball program has a bright future. Along with Junior Taylor Lang and Sophomore Grace Engel, the other two players on the varsity unit, the Girls JV Volleyball team is filled with talent. With the inspired coaching of JV Coach Kristi Kemmer and Varsity Coach Amanda Latter, the future of the program, as Rylee Polverelli put it, “has good potential”.

A sports program that used to dominate every year under Coach Ron Racey, whose teams won multiple Sectional and Colonial Council titles, is now returning to its former glory. As Ravena moves on to take on Cobleskill in the first round of Sectionals, they look to continue to show their worth as a team and to prove their dominance as a sports program at RCS.

Construction Updates

Written by Earl Thomasson

For the past two years there has been ongoing construction scattered across the school campus. Those projects have finally started to come together. Our superintendent, Dr. Bailey, commented on the projects and rumors associated with the construction. The estimated date of completion for all of these projects continues to change as issues arise, changing the plans for the construction.

The largest ongoing project is on the softball, baseball, and soccer field. Construction of this was started in July of 2017. They are expecting the fields to be ready by Fall of 2019. To make a suitable sod for playing they have to make a mixture of the right kind of soils. Their first mixture did not work, and now a new problem has arose, the water, which is needed to set the sod into the existing soil. To fix this they are building a trench from the Middle School well to the field behind the High School.

The other large project is the music wing, where construction began in June of 2018. They are expecting it to be finished by December of 2018. This was delayed by the installation of the new gymnasium. After the gym was finished they found asbestos in the old gymnasium, delaying the construction of the new music rooms as a new design was needed.

There was also a rumor that the basketball court in the new gym was ten feet too short. It is not the main court that is too short, but the two practice courts that are ten feet too short. This is easily fixable because the baskets are in the right place but the striping is not. It is planned to be fixed on either February or April break.

This year’s onrush of construction has also brought a new entrance, which is not yet finished. There are plans for an expansion of the width followed by plans of adding a roof to block rain, but not sunlight. The coil of wire on the front pillar is planned to soon have a light up R-C-S logo installed there. The boulders in the lawn have been moved parallel to the sidewalk for texture to make the entrance look better as a whole.

There is also some miscellaneous information on other smaller projects. The new concession stand is finished, which now serves food at various sporting events. There is talk of a complete makeover of signage in the parking lots. This is just a suggestion and has not received funding yet.

The main reason for all of these delays is the amount of changes and issues that has come about over the past couple of years. It is very difficult to account for every problem that arises and to set sight on an accurate date of completion. It is probable that these and many more projects will be started and worked on in the near future.

Retirement Ahead For David Dykeman

Sarah Eckl

Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High School Chemistry teacher, David Dykeman is retiring at the end of this school year, after giving 29 years of his life to teaching.

Dykeman has taught a variety of courses over the years including regents chemistry, honors chemistry, university in the high school chemistry, and forensics. Dykeman says some of his favorite moments as a teacher were being allowed to develop the forensics course and getting approved to teach the UHS chemistry course through UAlbany. He was the first person to teach the forensics course, and now, in his last year, is teaching it one last time.

Dykeman also discussed how he likes being able to see students progress. He says, “It's a lot of fun to watch student grow up and become adults.” He mentioned how much he has enjoyed becoming part of the fabric of the school. “It becomes ingrained in your being,” he says.

Mr. Dykeman, as he is known by his many chemistry and forensic students, discovered his love for teaching when he was in graduate school. He had a teaching assistantship, thoroughly enjoyed it, and decided to pursue teaching.

Many things have changed in Mr. Dykeman’s 29 years of teaching.“Teaching paradigms have changed,” Dykeman says, “[Teaching methods] have become more student centered and the job of a teacher has become more like the job of a counselor and social worker.”

“Teachers must wear a lot more hats and have more empathy,” Dykeman says, when talking about how the role of a teacher has changed since he started teaching. He also discussed how the ever changing needs of students have caused teachers to become more comprehensive in their teaching methods.

After he retires, Mr. Dykeman says he absolutely wants to travel. On his bucket list, is traveling to Europe, a place he has never been before. He also says he would like to move South with his wife to a warmer climate. Dykeman is also planning to partake in volunteer work.

When asked about her experience with Dykeman as a teacher, senior Madison Dutton said, “He ended up being one of the best teachers I’ve had the privilege of having. I went into chemistry not knowing if I would like the class, but I ended up enjoying it due to his teaching. I made a lot of good memories there… and I’m sorry for the students who will never have the experience of being taught by him.”

As Dykeman moves onto his much deserved retirement, it is clear that he will be missed by students and faculty alike.

Locals Create an Organization that Gives Back to the Community

Written By Cali Dorsey

Every Friday night in Albany’s Academy Park, a group of volunteers hand out meals, essential items, and hugs. The grassroots group calls themselves Street Soldiers.

Renee Fahey and Beth Hunter-Boehlke are both RCS graduates (1994 and 1995), and are doing something amazing. Street Soldiers was started by Renee and Mike Fahey in September of 2016. They wanted to help feed hungry people in Albany. Street Soldiers has grown a lot from where they started with a box of sandwiches and a pot of soup.

Street Soldiers does more than feed 65-85 hungry people in Albany on Friday nights. People can contact them directly with their needs, and they do their best to fulfill them. A recent post on their Facebook page searching for a table and chairs, a box spring, and a bed frame has received 61 comments and 6 shares within 2 days.

Street Soldiers is way more than helping the less fortunate. They offer assistance, care, support, and compassion to those who need it. “We are a group of friends helping friends. Relationships are formed and our gatherings are more like a family picnic than anything else” Beth shares. Beth recommends that everyone should go to a Friday night get together to grasp the feeling and see for yourself. “You will be better for it,” she says.

Every volunteer is appreciated by many. “So many involved and without each volunteer, we wouldn’t be what we are today. When you help someone, you help yourself. It feels good to make someone else smile” Renee says.

Street Soldiers is always accepting donations and volunteers. To volunteer you can go to Academy Park in Albany, or any of their other locations, on Friday nights. Everyone is welcome. Imagine seeing all of these people in the park one Friday night; just walking by would make you want to jump in to help. Street Soldiers has a wide age range of volunteers, ranging from 4 to 80 years old. Anyone can volunteer or donate. Donations can be made by dropping off items and cooked or baked goods at the get together. Ordering through their amazon wishlist is also an option. The most needed items right now are deodorant and chapsticks.

Street Soldiers is an amazing organization, and we can help. Street Soldiers is just one of the many organizations where you can do things to help others. Volunteering for such a good organization is incredibly helpful for so many people, and is an amazing opportunity for both the person you are helping, and you yourself.

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/fahey2017/

Lost and Forgotten Clubs at RCS?

Written By Jessica Hogan

Here at RCS High School we have quite a few clubs, but you may not know much about some of them. The French Club, Intramurals, and The Gossamer Thread are just a few that deserve to be highlighted.

The French Club, advised by Mrs. Filson, is all about learning to appreciate French culture. Mrs. Filson’s main goal in it is to learn about French culture and people, donating to Toys For Tots and to enjoy every aspect of French culture, including food and movies. They plan to meet two to three times a month in Mrs. Filson’s room: 219.

When asked why she started the club, Mrs. Filson stated “I love teaching people about French culture.” She also touched on the importance of teaching people to respect other cultures and to support anti-bullying.

Some activities the club does includes: Making a French meal, watching French movies, and the annual trip at the end of the year which she tries to incorporate French themes into. The French Club is definitely an educational club to join, even if you aren’t taking French.

Another club to keep an eye out for is Intramurals, advised by Mr. Schipano. Intramurals is used to promote activity during the enrichment period for the student body. It is also a great way to make up a Physical Education class. The club meets Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays in the Gym and weight room.

“Me being a P.E. teacher is a no brainer,” Mr. Schipano expressed when asked why he created the club. Mr. Schipano’s main goal for the club is to give opportunities to be active for the those that aren’t normally active in a physical education class.

Another club to make note of is Gossamer Thread, advised by Mrs. Stott. The Gossamer Thread is a magazine that features students artwork, stories, and poems.

The club meets every Thursday in Mrs. Stott’s room during 10th period. A current goal of the club is to incorporate photos taken by students from the photography club and to raise more money for a better quality magazine.

Mrs. Stott started the club in her first couple of years at RCS. After she moved over to the middle school, publications of the Gossamer Thread stopped. “Nothing had been published in 10 years, so I wanted to start it up again.”

The Gossamer Thread, Intramurals, and the French club have many great things to offer students. These are just a few of the many clubs that RCS has to get students more involved in extracurricular activities, and a few of the many that people don’t know about.

Recovery Efforts for Those Devastated by Two Hurricanes

Written By Madison Dutton

Recovery efforts are underway in the Southeast, United States after being slammed with two hurricanes only a few weeks apart. The Carolinas and Florida were hit especially hard with Hurricane Florence on September 14th and then Hurricane Michael on October 4th.

Hurricane Florence struck near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina in the morning on September 14th, bringing with it heavy rain and winds of a category four hurricane. Record flooding occurred from the storm surge, causing massive damages to homes as they were engulfed in water. The strength of the wind went up to 130 mph, which caused excessive damage to trees and power lines as trees and power lines fell and snapped.

The excessive damage includes damage to infrastructure, massive power outages, and contaminated water. Common sights that greeted people when they returned home were: empty foundation where their home once stood, homes wrecked beyond repair, a loss of possessions, destroyed buildings, fallen power lines, fallen trees, and destroyed roads.

In addition to the already severe damages, Hurricane Michael struck the panhandle of Florida as a category four hurricane. Much like Florence, Michael caused massive damage with floods, heavy rain, and winds up to 150 mph. Many more homes were destroyed, along with roads, power lines and other buildings. With the total damage taken into account, Michael is said to be one of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the panhandle.

Given that the Southeast was hit with not one but two hurricanes in such a short time, the total cost of damages is up in the tens of billions. Recovery, taking into account the total amount of damage is going to be a very slow, painstaking process. For the time being, fallen trees and debris are being cleared away and removed, power companies are rushing to restore power as quickly as they can, and people are in the process of accessing clean water. Repairs and the rebuilding of homes, schools, and commercial buildings are also underway, but will undoubtedly take longer to complete.

Many are concerned on just how long recovery will take, especially since some people still haven’t recovered from Hurricane Matthew in 2016. They are worried that they won’t get their homes back.

Despite the concerns, many organization are involved in helping people recover their lives back and are receiving a lot of support. Some of the organizations that are currently helping in the recovery and relief are FEMA, American Red Cross, and NVOAD.

FEMA has helped the victims of the Florence and Michael, providing financial assistance for homes and possessions, helping in search and rescue, providing information services for emergency communications, and helping monitor the situation with the insurance commissioners.

In addition, FEMA maintains the flow of supplies, making sure supplies, such as food, water, blankets, clothes, etc., reach people in need.

American Red Cross has since provided relief to thousands of people, with shelters, vehicles and workers to aid in the recovery all across the Southeast.

NVOAD is providing voluntary assistance and they suggest to any that want to help to either donate or sign up to volunteer, as showing up unannounced does not help the recovery process.

Regardless of all the support to the recovery efforts, it will be a long time before the damage of Hurricane Florence and Michael is fixed. With that said, there are plans in the recovery to improve infrastructure to handle the increasing frequency of hurricanes.

Sources:

www.newsobserver.com

Whyy.org

www.wect.com

Ens-newswire.com

www.fema.gov

Book vs. Movie: Which is Better?

Written by Emma Rowzee

People seem to be in constant disagreement over which is better: books or movies. More and more big movie companies have been looking to books as their inspirations for new movies. They like to use the books as a marketing tool as they can draw on the popularity of the book to get more people interested in their new movie in order to make more money.

Movie renditions of many books have angered readers. The readers criticize the movie for not being accurate to the book. On the other side, many people who watch the movie enjoy the movie, but usually these people have not read the book, or they watched the movie first.

There is so much information that one book can hold. A movie can’t always get all of this information across. Readers who fall in love with books and their series’ hold that story up to high standards, and have formed their own ideas of how what happened in the book would have happened in their head.

Movie companies and producers may use books as a guide, but they don’t always follow through with the same information. They like to change details and events to what they think will sell more. This often means an added love interest or more romantic parts that weren’t in the book. These details are put in place with the intention of drawing more fans of the movie.

Those who read the books first and have fallen in love with the book never seem to appreciate the movies that are based off of them. This is because the movies aren’t exactly like the books, and aren’t like the ideas that they had in their head, that they then judge the movie off of.

There seems to be no end to movie renditions that are widely considered bad movies due to their inaccuracies. One popular example is the last book in the Harry Potter Series: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Many readers were annoyed at the fact that they were making two movies based on the one book, which were released a year apart. This was done most likely with the intention to gain money. Critics said that the movies were too drawn out with information that wasn’t needed throughout. The movies added suspense and mystery that wasn’t added to the book as there was more explanation.

Some people prefer movies over books. Not as many people read books for fun in this generation, and like to just watch movies as it doesn’t take much effort to watch a movie, and they’re made so that the general population can watch and understand them. There are also those who do read and still prefer the movies. Sometimes a visual presentation of content makes things easier for more people to understand.

There are large differences between those who read and those who watch. The “age old” debate over which is better is fought over to this day. The answer has not been reached. This is because different people retain information differently, and are able to understand information in different ways.

There is no answer to which is better: the book or the movie. Both sides have valid points and valid concerns. However there is no way to decide if one format is generally better than the other. There is only opinion.

State Level Athlete at RCS High School

Written By Abigail Varney

Gillian Burch, a senior at RCS, has proven herself in her sport throughout her varsity career. For the past six years, Burch has excelled in swim, making various teams and competing at high ranking meets across the nation.

Burch, although she can swim almost anything, qualified for states this year in the 100 yard breaststroke, the 200 yard individual medley (IM) and the 200 yard freestyle. She has been making states in events since she was in eighth grade. Her coaches in the recent seasons include Josh Wolin of the Albany Starfish and Elyse Loughlin, who heads the RCS Varsity team with assistant coach Erin Roberts.

Both coaches describe the amount of work, determination and talent Burch has shown, even when she just started swimming for them.

Coach Elyse Loughlin said, “[Burch] earned recognition for herself.

“Gillian is a once in a lifetime athlete for a coach… She practices at least six days a week, sometimes morning practice at 5:30, goes to school all day, then goes to another swim practice.”

Burch, who has said her whole life has been committed to swim since she started in seventh grade, plans to use her talent to assist her when going to college.

Burch would like to attend West Point where she has been in contact with their coaches. Her hope is that the new coaches will help her improve her times and better her techniques at the collegiate level.

While much of Burch’s scholastic career has been devoted to swim, Burch said she will most likely not continue to swim at an intense level after she is done with college.

Burch has also received recognition in the terms of sponsorship. With the many away meets Burch attends travel expenses can build up. However, she has been sponsored by Speedo in terms of free suits, pants and jackets, and swim bags. All of these supplies cost hundreds of dollars, which she sometimes gets for free. Just the suits alone, which are kneeskins for championship meets, cost upwards of usually $300.

When asked about how her school community supports the girls swim team Burch said, “People don't realize how good the team is… we deserve recognition.”

RCS twelfth-grade student-musicians Simon Lindmark, Kaylee Eacho, and Logan Wilson at the ESYO Hungary Tour Send-Off Concert at the Brown School in Schenectady this August.

Senior Musicians Travel to Hungary

Written by Mr. Fatuzzo

This August, three RCS student-musicians traveled to Mako and Budapest, Hungary with the Empire State Youth Orchestra (ESYO) Wind Orchestra to participate and perform in the 2018 convention of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles. Twelfth-graders Kaylee Eacho (flute), Simon Lindmark (trumpet), and Logan Wilson (percussion) joined 45 other students from the Capital Region to perform with and listen to some of the world’s finest wind ensembles.

The musicians performed advanced wind band repertoire at the convention performance, gave an outdoor “Pops” concert, and marched in the First King of Hungary celebration alongside the other participating musical groups. The cross-cultural exchange allowed for them to play with student-musicians from Europe, China, Russia, and Romania.

Kaylee, Simon, and Logan spoke of their individual experiences abroad:

“Not only did I enjoy the culture, but playing with many different countries from around the world was so much fun and a huge honor. This was a once in a lifetime trip that I'm glad I went on! I encourage anyone out there that receives an invitation to an overseas trip to play music in Europe, not to hesitate and go enjoy yourself!” - Simon Lindmark

“The culture and people of the country made for an amazing experience. Whether that be playing for the conference in Mako or just exploring Budapest, it was a once in a lifetime experience. Besides seeing the country, just meeting so many new friends through the ESYO Wind Orchestra that have a passion for music made the experience better and gave me friendships that will last much longer than the trip.” - Logan Wilson

“Before the trip I was extremely excited, but also nervous. We were 4,266 miles away from home! I’ve made such good friends from the trip, both in ESYO and also from different parts of the world. I was surrounded by hundreds of people that shared the same passion for music as I did. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but nothing can compare to actually being there! I would give anything to go back and experience it all again.” - Kaylee Eacho

For the opportunity to perform and abroad, Kaylee, Simon, and Logan successfully auditioned into the highly-selective ESYO program during the previous school year and over their summer vacation, spent several nights rehearsing with the ensemble in preparation for their Hungary tour. RCS HS band director John Fatuzzo commends them for their commitment: “Kaylee, Simon, and Logan are exemplary student-musicians and we are so proud of them for representing RCS music abroad! They have worked tirelessly to prepare their audition materials and concert music, demonstrating admirable dedication to their passion. We look forward to hearing them share their musical and cultural experiences from Hungary with their peers here at RCS.”

Student-musicians have many outlets at RCS, from classroom curriculum to active participation in award-winning instrumental and choral ensembles. The RCS music department was recently recognized as a “Best Community for Music Education” by the National Association for Music Merchants (NAMM) this past Spring.

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