WRITTEN BY JADEN FISKE
The Music Program at VAAS was something that most of the students here looked forward to participating in and was often a reason some students attended the school in the first place. Unfortunately, it was removed for this year. This program gave students here a community to belong to and an out-of-school hobby that could turn into a career. The Music Program would participate in pep-rallies, and would occasionally have concerts of its own as well. It collaborated with other programs, like Leadership and Theatre, expanding the arts part of our school. The Music Program has a lot of benefits to students as well. As mentioned earlier, students who were in the music program could have made a career out of it. Finding their interest in that early on and having a class that can help teach them how to become better musicians helps them mentally plan out their future. Playing instruments has positive effects on the brain as well. “Playing a musical instrument has been shown to increase cognitive ability through enhanced neuronal communication between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, resulting in positive effects on learning, memory, fine motor skills, verbal and non-verbal reasoning, resulting in an overall more capable brain to apply in a multitude of settings.” wrote Anna R. Stoklosa in her article Instruments of Knowledge: Music and the Brain. She mentions in that article that introducing music lessons to children and a young age helps enhance neural connections developing in the brain. Anna talks about how listening to music helps boost your mood, physiological functions, (heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure) and behavior. According to Anna, “Thomas Jefferson used music and his violin to help him write the Declaration of Independence when he couldn’t come up with the right words. Music helped Jefferson get his thoughts from his brain onto paper.” and “Albert Einstein, one of the smartest men in history, was also a violin player. His mother bought him a violin in grade school and he attributes his intellect to his ability to play Mozart and Bach on the violin. His friend, G.J. Withrow, said Einstein figured out problems and equations by improvising music on the violin.” When a child is learning to play an instrument their brains learn to hear and interpret sounds that are different from just listening to it. Playing an instrument helps connect sensory, auditory, visual, emotional components and more of the central and peripheral nervous systems. It even helps improve memory! The Music Program was a great addition to our school, especially with high school students' brains not being fully developed yet. The Ssssource collected some data on this through a google form. We passed the form around through friends and some classmates. We got a total of 61 responses. 82% of students are in 10th grade and 18% are in 9th. 55% of the responses were enrolled here at VAAS when the music program was around, though 92.3% were not involved with the program. Out of all 61 responses, 91.8% said that the music program should be added back. When asked what instruments they play, if any, the majority of students responded with string instruments like Guitar, Ukulele, or Violin. A few said other instruments like the piano or flute, and some students played none. The love for the Music Program doesn’t stop there either. When it was first announced that the Music Program was being cut from VAAS, students passed around a petition on change.org to try and bring it back, with only 30 signatures missing from reaching the 200 signature goal. A few students have left the school because of the lack of our former Music Program. “What is VAAS without music ?” One student commented on the petition. In conclusion, as much as the program is missed, they can’t deliver what is not asked for. The reason for its absence is due to lack of interest, not enough students signed up to take it. The only way we can get The Music Program back is through us. We, the students of VAAS, have to sign up for the class. Not only does it benefit possible career choices, but benefits the brain and neurological connections as well. WRITTEN BY RIELLE CHLOE CANLAS AND JILL LUNA
The California Scholarship Federation, otherwise known as CSF, is an organization that awards and encourages students’ academic achievement during their time at the Valley Academy of Arts & Sciences. High school principal, Mr. Charles F. Seymour first proposed this idea at a convention of high school principles in Oakland in 1916. He led an active campaign to support his idea and it resulted in schools organizing similar societies. As an honors society that recognizes academic excellence, CSF has a series of requirements to join. You must have a GPA of at least 3.5 and have taken a few core curriculum classes each semester. Memberships to the program are only by application which is available at the beginning of each semester. There is a $5 donation when the application is completed and this helps fund membership awards. Late applications are NOT accepted. When in this program, a 10 hour minimum of community service is required each semester, outside of regular school hours, to keep the membership in CSF. During your fall semester in sophomore year, your freshman year grades first determine if you can join. Mrs. Kidwell, the advisor of this program, will send a paper to notify you about CSF. It’s not necessary to join but it’s a great opportunity for those who would like to add this on their future college applications. If you wish to achieve the highest awards from this program, you must complete 6 semesters, but joining your Junior year will still bring benefits, and has 4, the minimum amount of semesters required to receive these benefits, with your sophomore grades determining whether you are eligible for the program. As for rewards, the life membership (sealbearer) is awarded to those who qualified for four or more semesters, at least one semester in senior year. Those people would earn a CSF Gold Seal on their diploma and graduate with special honors. They’ll also be eligible to be nominated by the advisor to earn the Seymour Memorial Awards. According to the official CSF website, it states, “Over $100,000 is awarded to a group of 50 graduating Sealbearers each year. Each spring, regional subcommittees of five advisers choose outstanding Life Members (Sealbearers) from among candidates nominated by their advisers by the February deadline within each of the five regions. Each year, 50 finalists receive awards of $2,000 each, and five of these (one per region) each receive an additional $3,000 as the regional award recipient. The award is now regarded as one of the highest scholastic honors given to secondary school graduates in the state of California.” Overall, the California Scholarship federation assists with college expenses through the help of volunteering within your high school years. |
EditorZachary Buenaventura Author
Yuliana Altamirano CategoriesArchives
June 2023
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