FRIENDS OF MUSIC GIVE GRANTS TO TWO BERKELEY COUNTY SCHOOLS
FRIENDS OF MUSIC GIVE GRANTS TO TWO BERKELEY COUNTY SCHOOLS
The Friends of Music have awarded grants to assist the music programs at two Berkeley County middle schools. Both grants were presented at the schools on April 25.
The first grant went to Martinsburg North Middle School. It consisted of four Oscar Schmidt Acoustic Guitars, which cost a total of $500. The guitars will be used by 8th grade students participating in the school’s Guitar Club, as well as 8th graders taking general music classes. Music teacher Pamela Lehr asked for these guitars because the school has not had enough to go around. This has mean that students have had to share instruments, which has cut down on each student’s playing time.
The Friends of Music purchased the guitars locally, through Ranson’s Ellsworth Music Supply and Repair, to help su
pport local business as well as assist local students.
One accompanying photo shows so
me members of the Martinsburg North Middle School Guitar Club with the new instruments; their teacher, Pamela Lehr, is standing on the right in the rear.
The second grant went to Hedgesville Middle School. It consisted of electronic hardware (a wireless video transmitter and VGA multiport adaptor) that music teacher Laura Rhin had requested to facilitate instruction in her General Music classroom by upgrading the room’s technological capability. The value of this grant was $244.
The other accompanying photo shows the Hedgesville Middle School General Music class. Their teacher, Laura Rhin, is standing in the center of the back row, with Friends of Music office manager Jennifer Perrotte on her left.
The two grants are part of an ongoing effort by the Friends to help support music education in area schools.
The Friends of Music is a Shepherdstown-based, non-profit organization that was founded in 1999 to support and promote musical excellence. Its members support the Two Rivers Chamber Orchestra, the only professional classical music orchestra in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, and one of only three of such orchestras in the state.
