The students and staff of East Rockaway Jr./Sr. have made many new friends — and talented ones at that!

When Jericho High School Principal Joe Prisinzano asked his students, their parents and his staff to help the East Rockaway school district — who lost the use of their high school building and much of its contents to Hurricane Sandy — they jumped into action. The result was the first-ever “Bring Back the Music” Talent Show and Raffle that was held on Dec. 12 in Jericho High School’s auditorium, showcasing student acts from Jericho and East Rockaway in a dual community event. The fundraising show was a hit, with a surprise flash mob performance!

Jericho HS planned to raise $10,000 to bring the music back to East Rockaway. This was made much easier by the 700 people who attended that night, which raised $7,000 right off the bat — without even counting the money raised from the numerous raffles (over 100) and silent auction.

The students that performed were incredibly talented and the staff put on a great show as well, being entertaining and sometimes comical for the audience.

The students from East Rocakway who participated were James Anervone and Lindsay Dower who performed a “Flute Sonata”; Bitsy Kuehn sang a beautiful rendition of “Over the Rainbow”; Miranda Balan and Felicya Schwarzman performed “Memory” from the broadway play Cats. Miranda had an incredible operatic voice that had the crowd cheering.Bitsy Kuehn and Miranda Balan performed “I Dreamed a Dream” and received a standing ovation. Their voices combined were a stunning duet. They were coached by their music teacher Dan Ezell.