WINNEMUCCA - Lowry High School in Winnemucca is a great place to get a music education. Band, guitar, percussion, choir and choreography - it's all available in Winnemucca to high school students willing to put in the time and effort to learn from gifted music teacher Paul Criddle.
Winnemucca is also a great place to get a music education because of the efforts of the Lowry Music Boosters Club.
Through fundraisers like "Where's the Beef" this Friday, the booster club raises money for scholarships, equipment for the music program, and student travel to music competitions and performances.
Director Paul Criddle said the trips are important to music students for several reasons - the young people come to realize how wide the world of music can be as they compete with other students and perform in other communities, and the trips bond the students in a way that shows during every performance.
Booster club president Marielena Connell and her husband Monte are the music program's official chaperones on trips, and Mrs. Connell shared a story from the recent Swing Choir tour.
Connell said that the kids had some free time one evening and when the chaperones met up with them at 9 p.m. for dinner, the students excitedly told about something they'd done. They had seen two homeless men playing guitars in the city and the Swing Choir members stopped and sang with the two young men.
One of the choir members had a Dr. Seuss Hat and put it on the ground for donations from the audience, which were plentiful. The kids also combined their change and came up with $60 they divided between the two street musicians.
Connell said the students' giving attitudes and their joy in music are so evident that it's a joy to be around them.
Connell gave that joy as the reason she's continued to be involved with the booster club many years since her own two music student sons graduated from Lowry.
Booster club members and music students have been selling raffle tickets for $2 for a chance to win great prizes, including a first, second, or third prize of 100, 50, or 25 pounds of beef, a quilt, a cow hide, and other items donated by local businesses and individuals.
Raffle tickets will continue to be for sale up until the drawing, to be held during the dinner. (You don't have to be present to win.)
Booster club vice president Linda Betteridge said tickets for the dinner are $20 a person for delicious fare like barbecued tri-tip, baked potatoes and salad, topped off with special desserts made by the parents of music students at the high school. The dinner will also feature a concert by Lowry music students.
The "Where's the Beef" dinner and concert will be held in the Comstock Room of the Convention Center east hall. The dinner begins at 6 p.m. and the concert starts at 7 p.m.[[In-content Ad]]
