Freeport schools celebrate the arts

The Freeport School District hosted the 2017 Festival of the Arts, which highlighted the different grade level students’ efforts in orchestra, band and chorus. With the school year coming to a close, the Festival of Arts provided an opportunity for students to demonstrate the skills that they acquired throughout the 2016-17 school year.

Since early May, students from Caroline G. Atkinson, J.W. Dodd Middle and Freeport High schools welcomed their friends, family and neighbors to celebrate the arts at their schools. Now drawing closer to the end of the school year, four Freeport elementary schools took their places in the spotlight as they, too, celebrated the arts. Students at Bayview Avenue, Leo F. Giblyn, New Visions and Archer Street schools participated in their interpretations of music in a two-day series of shows on June 6 and 8.

“I think the concert was a wonderful opportunity for children in Freeport to showcase talent other people might not be aware of,” said Jeannie Leal, chorus teacher at Bayview Avenue School.

Bayview Avenue band director Michael Young and orchestra teacher Christina Giaquinto said they view the concerts as a way to create unity among students by giving everyone the opportunity to get involved.

The students who performed in the concerts devoted extra time throughout the school year to prepare for the concert by coming in during mornings and recess to rehearse.

Rising fifth-grader at Giblyn, Natalie Mouton and a three-year veteran to the festival sang and played the violin this year. “My performance this year was pretty good. My favorite part of the concert was the violin part because I enjoyed a violin piece, ‘Allegro,’” she said with a smile.

Ellen Higgins, Mouton’s mom, kept her eyes on the stage as she watched her played the violin. “The concert touched my heart because it made me realize how fast time is going. Before you blink, they’re all grown up,” said Higgins. “In a blink of an eye, they go from babies to going into fifth grade, and I realized that I have to cherish every moment.”

The audience at all schools was filled with family, neighbors, school administrators and community leaders like Carmen Pineyro, a Village of Freeport trustee, who came to see her son and daughter perform at the New Visions School. Bayview Avenue alumna Chelsea Curtis attended the spring concert to extend her support to the students, remembering when she was a student at the school taking part in the annual event.

“The spring concert is always a great way to wrap up the year to send the kids off,” Curtis said.