January 2021
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: January 19, 2021
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Nicole Kneer, Jamie Bennett, and Anthony Napolitano
The meeting was called to order at 7:04pm
Old Business:
Disney trip: Ms. Cardiff will call the tour guide the first week of February to see what we are going to do for this summer. If Disney says it is a no go then our Seniors will be offered to go next summer with us. The trip has to be scheduled by March to go this summer.
New Business:
The Fannie May fundraiser started on Thursday. This year we are hoping to have more sales because the customer can pay online for the order with a credit card. One student has already sold 65 boxes primarily through social media!
We will host our own Solo/Ensemble this year on Saturday, April 10th in the big gym. The judges will be Mr. Chesner for band and Mrs. Craddock for choir. This is much more economical because we just have to pay the judges (no entrance fees or transportation). This also allows the judges to work with the kids more since it will only be our students.
A question of how the students can earn service hours for Disney was brought up.
Ms. Cardiff said that they could get credit for helping to organize the Fannie May boxes for delivery, and setting up for the recording of the choir and band concerts.
This Friday, the choir will sing “Happy Birthday” and “God Bless America'' for a woman’s 95th birthday for a donation to FOM. This will also count for credits.
Next Friday the Jr. High choir and 7th and 8th grade band will record their winter concert at 11:30.
The scholarships that we will be giving this school year are the Thomas Watson Fine Arts scholarship ($250), the Rachel Watson Music scholarship ($250) and the Mr. Krecji Band scholarship ($250). The committee to decide the recipients of these scholarships is Jamie Bennett, Nicole Kneer, and Sherri Watson.
The recruitment for 5th and 6th grade band for next year will be held before the end of the school year on two separate days so they can test for instruments.
There will be summer lessons online.
Upcoming events:
The elementary Spring concert will be on video as a virtual concert on Tuesday, April 27. Ms. Cardif will video each class and then it will be put together.
The Spring Band concert is scheduled for Tuesday, May 11. The Spring Choir concert is scheduled for Thursday, May 13.
Promotion will be May 27 and Graduation will be May 30.
Treasurer’s Report:
The accounts are in good standing order. We may want to move money from checking to savings in the Spring.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be at 7:00 pm on February 16th in the study hall and Google meet. The meeting was adjourned at 7:40pm
October 2020
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: October 26, 2020
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Nicole Kneer, Jamie and Jeremy Bennett, Ashley Hunter, and Anthony Napolitano
The meeting was called to order at 7:03pm
Old Business:
The coffee fundraiser is over and has been delivered. At this time we do not have the total profits but a lot was sold.
The Variety Show will be rescheduled to November 13th.
New Business:
Due to space limitations the Jr. High band will be split the following way: Mondays will be 6th grade and Thursdays will be 7th and 8th grade. Jr. High choir is practicing in the weight room and it is working well. Dan Sappenfield provided plastic domes that go under their masks to help with the ability to sing with a mask on.
Elections of officers: Ashley Hunter was nominated and voted unanimously for Treasurer. Jamie was nominated and voted unanimously for Vice President
Nicole Kneer is continuing as President and Sherri Watson is continuing as Secretary
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be at 7:00 pm on November 30th in the Elementary Music Room and Google Meet if needed. The meeting was adjourned at 7:22pm
September 2020
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: September 28, 2020
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Nicole Kneer, and Anthony Napolitano
The meeting was called to order at 7:04 pm
Old Business:
The coffee fundraiser is getting turned in today/tomorrow. He will fresh roast the beans when we turn it in. The orders should be in by mid October. The kids can earn a Disney event by helping to organize it.
We do need to have a Vice President and a Treasurer by next month. We absolutely need a treasurer to be able to do the Disney trip.
New Business:
A Variety Show will be done! Posters are going up this week and auditions will be the 2nd or 3rd week of October and the show will be October 30th. Ms. Cardiff will take the people in the show in the new gym with the performers in the audience and the one performing on the stage. Ms. Cardiff will video it and upload it into a google classroom, and then it can be shared with others.
The directors are allowing only high school students to audition for D5 because they can be eligible for All State. These auditions will be virtual (recorded).
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be at 7:00 pm on October 26th in the elementary music room and google meet if needed. The meeting was adjourned at 7:30 pm
August 2020
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: August 24, 2020
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Nicole Kneer, Becky Olson, Mr. Napolitano, and several parents.
The meeting was called to order at 7:05pm
Old Business:
We received a donation of $100 from Janet Oliver and Carolyn Case (first cousins to Ann Krejci) in honor of Ken Krejci.
We received a thank you note from Grace Hutchison for the VG friends of music scholarship.
District 5 is cancelled for this year. They can audition if they want but there is no festival.
We will need a new treasurer and a vice president. At our next meeting we will vote to fill these positions.
New Business:
The Disney trip was discussed with the parents. It is suggested that the students save the money for the trip themselves and give a total amount to the company in February (or whenever the deadline is) so that no money is lost if it is cancelled. The trip will be July 19-24, 2021.
We could do the coffee fundraiser this year as a fall fundraiser. It would be doable with the circumstances.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be at 7:00 pm September 28th in the study hall room or by Google meet. The meeting was adjourned at 7:45pm
February 2020
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: February 25, 2020
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Nicole Kneer, Jen Mahannah, and Becky Olson
The meeting was called to order at 7:08 pm.
New Business:
We sold 989 boxes of Fannie May candy for a profit of $5530.98!
Disney: We will have final prices in the next two weeks. Then we will mail letters home to all of the parents which will give them the date of the meeting for Disney.
Solo and Ensemble for High School is March 7th and Junior High is April 4th.
The Jr. High field trip is this Sunday.
New fundraiser: Easter Bunny for hire. The family would give us money to hide the Easter Eggs at night on Saturday, April 11. The money will be due on April 6. $20.00 for two dozen eggs.
Treasurer’s Report: All accounts in good standing.
We can use the school’s tax exempt i.d. because we are an organization of the school.
We also have a savings account, so we are going to move the majority of money to the savings account from the checking account.
We made $233.00 from our winter concession stands.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be at 7:00 pm on April 7 in the Elementary music room. The meeting was adjourned at 7:49 p.m.
January 2020
Meeting Date: January 7, 2020
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Anthony Napolitano, Toni Cassano, Nicole Kneer, and Becky Olson
The meeting was called to order at 7:05pm
New Business:
*We have a Jr. High field trip for band and choir. It is a free orchestra concert at Krannert on March 1st. We will leave the school at 2:00pm and return home around 6:30pm. The kids will just have to pay for food.
*We will again do the scholarship for the Thomas Watson Fine Arts and are changing the music scholarship to the Rachel “Ray” Watson Music Scholarship. We are going to make them $250 each written to the recipients school.
*We are going to start a scholarship in Mr. Krejci’s name for students going into music education.
*Our total profit for the coffee fundraiser was $2253.00.
*We ordered 50 decals from Terry McFarland and paid $4.00 a decal and we are selling them for $10.
*The Fannie May fundraiser starts on January 10th and orders are due on January 24th. The candy will be in by February 3rd. We have a new distributor and there are new items along with the same Fannie May favorites. There are cumulative prizes that they can win based on the items that they sell. The profit is now 40% rather than 50%, but we feel that the prizes are going to be a good motivator.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be at 7:00 pm on February 25th in the Elementary music room. The meeting was adjourned at 7:47 p.m.
November 2019
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: November 12, 2019
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Nicole Kneer, Lily Lawrence, Dani Conner, Cassie Duffy, and Becky Olson
The meeting was called to order at 7:04 pm
Old Business:
Fall festival for Jr. High was on November 7 and it went very well.
Yesterday we had our Veteran’s Day program and the Jr. High choir sang the National Anthem, the H.S. choir sang, and the band played Marches of Armed Forces.
The Variety Show was November 1st and both shows went very well. We earned $40 from the concession stand, $64 in donations, and we sold $75 in T-shirts in the last two weeks.
New Business:
The H.S. choir has the LPC choral festival Thursday, November 14 at 7pm at Heritage H.S. The entrance fee is $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for seniors and students.
Jr. High field trip--We do not have a place to go yet. Ms. Cardiff has looked at all the shows but has not found anything appropriate yet.
Saturday, November 30th Jr. High and H.S. students are welcome to come to the Tree Lighting Ceremony and we will sing carols at 6:00 p.m.
High School band will be marching at the Parade of Lights in Champaign on November 30th. They will meet at the school at 4:15 and parade starts at 6:00.
There was another concession lottery and we have January 21, February 3, and February 6.
We auctioned off only 7 of the 20 seats for the Winter Elementary Concert. Ms. Cardiff wants to have an online auction for the other 13 seats for the front row seats at the Winter Elementary Concert on Monday, December 9th.
The JH/HS band and choir concert is on December 11th.
Dial-a-carol will need to be done between December 12-16th. We will have a sign-up sheet for the person to tell us where to go or who to sing to. Hopefully we will carol one to two nights. More details to follow.
Mrs. Olson has found someone that can do car decals that we can sell for $10.00. We might use the logo from the T-shirts or have a contest for the logo. We will order 100 for our first order. Mrs. Olson will look into this.
Treasurer’s Report: We were able to close the savings account and transferred $53.59 to checking. We spent $380.06 spent on the nine Senior gifts. We have just collected for the coffee fundraiser.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be at 7:00 pm on January 7 in the Elementary music room. The meeting was adjourned at 7:47 p.m.
October 2019
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: 10/15/19
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Nicole Kneer, Jamie Bennett, Becky Olson, and Anthony Napolitano
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm
Old Business:
Deposit for Caramel apples tomorrow from Sunday. We sold 30 apples and made $68.20. We sold 2 t-shirts as well. Later on we may take an order for sizes we do not have in this order.
New Business:
**November 7 is the Fall Festival for the Junior High band. It is at Atwood Hammond Grade School and the concert is at 7:00 p.m.
**November 14 is the LPC Festival for choir at Heritage High School. The concert is at 7:00 p.m.
**Variety show is November 1st at 1:30 and 7pm. If you sign up to help set up on October 30th at 6pm for Disney credit. You can also get Disney credit by signing up for crew, concessions, and/or tear down.
**The JH/HS band and choir concert has been changed to December 11th. Nicole ordered the Senior blankets and they will be given during this concert.
**Coffee fundraiser: It will start October 28 and orders are due November 11. This company has non-flavored/ flavored coffee and a variety of cocoa. We will try to get the order forms printed in color so the customer can see what the label of the coffee will look like.
Treasurer’s Report: All balances are in good standing. We had a deposit of $91.00 for football concessions. The caramel apple money ($68.20) has not been deposited yet.
There is a savings account at the bank with about $53.59 that was opened in 1990. We need to keep adding $1.00 to keep it active. We have voted to close this account.
We are wondering if we are a not-for-profit club. Becky will ask Shirley about whether or not this would be helpful or not.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be at 7:00 pm on November 12 in the Elementary music room. The meeting was adjourned at 7:47 p.m.
September 2019
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: 9/3/19
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Nicole Kneer, Jen Mahannah, Becky Olson, Jeremy Bennett and Anthony Napolitano
The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm
Old Business:
The Disney meeting date is September 10th at 7pm in the band room.
Last FOM meeting we discussed what package that we will present at the meeting. This meeting is purely informational--no money will be taken.
Director Report:
Permission slips and money ($49.00) are due September 9th for the Beef and Boards trip. Students need to write on the permission slip if they want to use their trip account.
The junior high field trip will be scheduled when we get final numbers of band and choir. As of right now it looks like we will go see Stomp.
We ordered T-shirts for band/choir already. If we sell them all at $15.00, it will be a little over $600.00 profit. We bought them for $572.00.
The concession dates are 9/16 and 9/30. Jen and Savannah have volunteered for 9/16 and for 9/30 we need one more person.
Jen and Nicole can man the booth at Open House on 9/11.
We need someone to order the caramel apples, pick them up, and sell them at the Wooly Worm festival on October 5.
Mr. Napolitano would like new chairs for the band room. The ones that he is looking at the total would be around $4000. He will talk to PTO as well. He would like to split the cost between FOM and PTO.
The ISU All State band day is Sunday, September 22. Registration is due by September 16.
New Business:
The coffee sale is Oct. 28-Nov. 11. Mrs. Olson’s concern is that it will come in on Thanksgiving break. She will talk to the coffee guy about how to take care of this.
Treasurer’s Report:
The current balance is $17, 210.92. We wrote a 450.00 check to Beef and Boards for the deposit for the trip on October 2.
Mrs. Olson has a spreadsheet of the trip accounts. She will give the student’s their amount balance at the Disney meeting.
We have some inactive students and Mrs. Olson would like to leave their money in there account until they graduate. All graduates who do not use their balances, that money goes back to FOM unless they have a sibling or cousin currently enrolled in music. If they are inactive when they graduate then it will automatically go back to FOM. Inactive means they have not been in a music program for 2 or more consecutive years.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be at 7:00 pm on October 15 in the elementary music room. Mr. Napolitano will bring food!
The meeting was adjourned at 7:56 p.m.
August 2019
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: 8/7/19
Members Present: Jeri Cardiff, Dani Conner, Lily Lawrence, Jeryn Bennett, Jamie Bennett
The meeting was called to order at 7:06 pm in the Elementary Music Room. Ms. Cardiff gave updates on Disney received from the travel agent. All of the information will be shared at the Disney meeting on Sept. 10th. Band camp is August 13-15 from 10 a.m.-1:00 p.m. each day. Possible dates for the laundry detergent fundraiser were discussed. We will try to have t-shirts ready to sell during Open House. The tentative calendar for the year was given.
Meeting adjourned at 7:21 p.m.
July 2019
Friends of Music Minutes
Meeting Date: 7/9/19
Members Present: Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Nicole Kneer, Jamie Bennett, Becky Olson, Ashley Kielhorn, and Anthony Napolitano
The meeting was called to order at 7:11 pm at The Scoop.
Old Business:
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Talked to the coffee guy and he is good doing it in place of the cheesecakes during the late fall. Each bag of coffee will be labeled VG music. Mrs. Olson will be in charge of this fundraiser.
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The car magnets are on hold because the one in Champaign did not respond. We will get a quote from the place in Charleston or in Champaign.
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We reviewed the information about the laundry detergent fundraiser. This will be done in the late Spring.
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Amy and Ms. Cardiff are running the AG days Talent Show. Amy, Tony, and Cassandra are judging.
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Table the discussion of the parking or seats at concerts until August.
New Business:
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Mr. Napolitano is giving summer lessons incoming 5th graders on Monday and Wednesday.
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Registration is August 7 and 8th and we talked about having a table during registration but now because of the construction we should wait until Open House which tentatively is Wednesday September 4.
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Two options for Disney:
1st option is to do it the same way in the past--Drive in a bus straight through, 4 day hopper passes for all Disney related parks, 4 meal vouchers, directors are comped, and we stay in the resort. We will have student rules and chaperone rules. Private security may increase the price a bit.
2nd option:--Three days of park hopper passes, 1 day hopper pass for Universal Studios. Everything else is the same.
1st option tentatively costs $736.00 (quad room) and 2nd option tentatively costs $803.00 (quad room)
$55.00 per person for the bus (FOM pays for this when the students get their service events) but that bus will stay at Disney so we can use the bus to go to Universal Studios.
**We have voted to go with option 2. We are planning on leaving June 1, 2021 and be back by June 6, 2021. The students who are eligible are incoming 8th graders to incoming 11th graders.
Treasurer’s Report:
In May we paid for the Thomas Watson Music Scholarship to Ashley Fulk and one reimbursement for summer camp.
Mrs. Olsen would like to get all of the student’s balances updated by the beginning of the school year.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be at 7:00 pm on August 7th in the elementary music room.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 p.m.
May 2019
Friends of Music Minutes 5/14/2019
Members present: Jeri Cardiff, Sherri Watson, Dawn Fulk, Ashley Fulk, Nicole Kneer, Jennifer Bender, Becky Olson, Jamie Bennett, Jeryn Bennett, Jen Shadwick, Ellen Zimmerman, and Sonya Williams
Christmas caroling (December)
Need to set a date and a parent to sponsor it (Nicole Kneer has volunteered)
Over the phone and in person
Secular and Sacred options
Easter egg hiding (March/April)
Need to set a date early
Parent volunteers (Jen Bender and Ellen)
2 dozen for $20, prefilled
They fill out a form and we put a distance (within ___ miles)
Student/parent ushers to keep reserved spots
Beginning of the school year?
Table at Open House to have this silent auction
Mrs. Olson will get us a good spot
We will also put it on the school Facebook page
No upfront cost or minimum order size
Coffee is roasted fresh to order
$20 shipping charge
Customized label
Profit 40% on every 10 oz. bag sold for $15 ($6)
Not separated by student at delivery
The baked goods and chili supper did not go over very well this
year.
We have decided to do regular concessions ran by kids for Disney
credit.
They cost us $3.50, profit of $6.50
We decided to do magnets again rather than clings.
The profit margin is 50% for Fannie May with the company we have now. We also looked at different options.
We discussed selling the coffee in the beginning of Fall instead of cheesecake. Ms. Cardiff will look into this and Mrs. Olson will help with this fundraiser.
We will also sell caramel apples from Flesor’s at Wooly Worm. (October)
We need a a President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary
The following officers were nominated and voted in:
President: Nicole Kneer
Vice President: Jen Mahannah
Treasurer: Becky Olson
Secretary: Sherri Watson
The meeting was adjourned at 7:52pm.
April 2019
Meeting Date: 4/16/19
Members Present: Dawn Fulk, Jen Mahannah, Sherri Watson, Jeri Cardiff, Nicole Kneer, Ashley Kielhorn, and Anthony Napolitano
The meeting was called to order at 7:03 in the elementary music room.
Old Business:
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Everything for Chicago financially is taken care of and wrapped up.
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The Krannert trip has been paid for. The Jr. High are going April 27th at 5:30 p.m.
New Business:
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The band spring concert is May 2 at 7:00pm. The choir spring concert is on May 9th at 7:00pm. April 23rd at 6:00pm is the K-3 spring concert.
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May 16th we are going to have a recruiting assembly for 4-8th grade during the school day.
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Disney will be in two years rather than three years to allow the sophomore class to go. If they do not raise enough money then we will push it back one more year. There will be a few changes such as service hours. We will do the number of events worked instead.
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Possible fundraisers: Coffee fundraiser, Christmas caroling fundraiser, Leaf raking fundraiser, Monical’s fundraiser, and an “Easter Bunny” fundraiser. We will be discussing and cementing what fundraisers we will do during our May meeting. Our goal is $21,000 for the next two years.
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We will be electing officers for Friends of Music during the May meeting. We are going to put an insert about FOM in the programs of all three concerts.
Director’s Report:
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Junior High students did well at solo and ensemble. They were also well behaved.
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LOVC Band went well and the students had fun. Our conference is changing to Lincoln Prairie Conference. Next year might be an honor band instead of all the students. Choir LPC will be in the fall and band LPC will be in the spring. This is a change from every other year. The fall choir concert will not be happening because of this concert and District 5.
Next Meeting: The next meeting will be Tuesday, May 14 at 7:00 pm.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:05 p.m.
March 2019
March 5, 2019
Call meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
Members present: Jeri Cardiff, Dawn Fulk, Sherri Watson, Anthony Napolitano, Shelby Sigler, Joyce Bretz, Jen Mahannah, Tracy McAfee, Tricia Floyd, Dave Kern, Tanya Kern, Jamie Kern, Sarah Brown, Randy Brown, Dani Conner, Rachel Watson, Scott Leon
H.S solo and ensemble was this past Saturday and they did a great job!
LOVC will be March 21st at Oblong. Mr. Napolitano will email the other directors for more information on transportation possiblities.
Jr. High field trip is April 27th at Krannert. Leaving at 5:30 p.m. and seeing the Champaign Urbana Symphony Orchestra. They will be listening to the Star Wars suite and the Planet Suite.
Spring concerts: Elementary on April 23rd (K-3) at 6pm, the Spring band concert is April 30th and the Spring choir concert is May 9th at 7 pm for both. We will give the choir seniors their gifts at the concert. Band seniors received theirs in the fall during Senior Night for football.
Treasurer’s report: Jen reported the balances of the checking and savings accounts. All accounts are in good standing.
Chicago Trip: Ms. Cardiff went over the behavior contract. Students will wear to school what they are wearing in Chicago. Please dress warm in layers and sensible shoes. After 1st hour they will get on the bus and then they will get on the train to Chicago. Please be sure that your emergency numbers are up to date. These will be taken with them. The students are being limited to one backpack. Ms. Cardiff and Mr. Napolitano will be going through all luggage before the trip. Be sure that if your child takes prescription meds please fill out a permission slip and medication in original container. A do and don’t list was sent home for the trip. If you need a copy, Ms. Cardiff can email it to you. The students will need a sack lunch for the train on Friday. The students will be together at all times. Budget about $15-20 dollars per meal (2-3 meals that are not pre-ordered). Chromebooks can be left in the band room on Friday. There are a total of 29 children and 6 adults going on the Chicago trip. They are staying at Palmer House. Each child can bring one backpack and will abide by all school rules and the behavior contract. Ms. Cardiff will resend the itinerary and behavior contact to all parents of students going on the Chicago trip.
The next meeting will be April 16th at 7:00 pm in the Elementary Music room.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:27pm.
February 2019
Call meeting to order at 7;04.
Members present: Jeri Cardiff, Dawn Faulk, Ashley Faulk, Sandi Hire, Ashley Kielhorn, Nicole Kneer, and Sherri Watson
Just finished Fannie May fundraiser and our profit was $4,407. The top seller was a sixth grader. Everything went well with the fundraiser. The profit margin with this company is great however, the communication with them is very lax. We are considering options for a different company for next year.
Treasurer’s report: Ms. Cardiff reported the balances of the checking and savings accounts for the Treasurer, who was unable to attend.
Chicago Trip: There are a total of 30 children and 5 adults going on the Chicago trip. They are staying at Palmer House. Each child can bring one backpack and will abide by all school rules and the behavior contract. March 15th, we will leave the school at 9:15 and the train leaves at 10:14 (eat lunch). We will arrive in Chicago at 1pm and then walk 5 minutes to Sears Tower. After the tour of Sears Tower we will walk 20 minutes to Millenium Park. Then we will check into the hotel and freshen up. Dinner is at 5 at the Italian Village. The show is at 7:30 at CIBC theatre. We will go to the hotel and there is an 11pm curfew. On March 16th, we will have breakfast at Freshii in the hotel. We will walk to the Art Institute and do the tour. Then there is a trolley to Navy Pier. At 7:00 we will take the trolley from Navy Pier to the train station. We will arrive in Champaign at 10:30pm and take bus back to V.G.
Scholarships: Sherri will present the scholarships. FOM Thomas Watson Memorial Art Scholarship and FOM Thomas Watson Memorial Music Scholarship. Two scholarships for $250 each (one for each scholarship). These will be presented on May 7th at 6:00pm.
Scholarship requirements are an application and an essay about their involvement in music or art.
Solo and Ensemble for the H.S. is March 2 at Heritage and Jr. High is April 6 at St. Joe.
Mr. Tracy has talked to the board they approved Disney in three years.
The next meeting is March 5 at 7pm at the Elementary Music Room.
Meeting is adjourned at 7;58pm.