School camp brings out best in students

A gentle Thursday morning in the roomy schoolyard of Caroline G. Atkinson Intermediate School provided a congenial setting for an exuberant performance by the children of the 2021 Summer Academy of Freeport Public Schools.

More than 200 youngsters in grades four to eight took part in the Summer Arts Program, which ran from early July to the culminating performances on July 29.

By performance time at 10 a.m., the students were sitting or standing in relaxed groups at either side of the designated performing space. Students and teachers alike wore jaunty pink-and-white tie-dyed T-shirts with the legend, “Summer Academy ROCKS!”

The students’ family members sat on low beach chairs or blankets facing the performing area. Some stood in the back of the crowd. Smart phones, held in position to record the show, were universal.

Ruth Breidenbach, director of arts and community relations for Freeport Public Schools, welcomed everyone and introduced Christina Prisco-Buxbaum, coordinator of the Summer Arts Program and the program’s emcee. “Ms. Prisco,” as the students called her, brought Superintendent of Schools Dr. Kishore Kuncham to the microphone.

“I’m very honored to be here with all of you, and it’s great to see our kids performing today,” Kuncham said. He alluded to the total of 1,300-plus students who spent four weeks in the Summer Academy, noting that the students in the academic and STEAM programs were given time with the Sumer Arts Academy in addition to their academic work.

Then began a lovely 45 minutes of music and dance.

Music teacher Cathy Beck conducted a small string orchestra through a short piece, and then called more students to their places, until nearly 50 students stood in rows, each one with a violin, viola or cello. Beck’s broad, clear gestures carried them through about 15 minutes of memorized music.

Next, 30 band and percussion students performed on trumpets, trombones, flutes, clarinets, oboes, French horns, tubas and saxophones, accompanied by percussionists with tambourine, kettle drum and snare.

One of the string pieces and two of the band pieces were conducted with complete confidence by interns. They were Freeport High School students, and were among the 26 ninth- through 12th-graders who assisted the teachers throughout the Summer Academy.

After another group of interns blasted their way through a high-spirited dance of their own choreography, they helped conduct about 100 children through choral singing, plus several dances full of shouts, leaps and fist pumps.

As the final applause waned, the children settled down on the grass for a professional performance by Napoleon Revels-Bey and the Rhythm Kings Ensemble, with Revels-Bey on drums, Daisy Schumake on congas, Bryan Carrott on vibraphone, Brent Benteler on bass and Marcus Persiani on keyboard. Not only did they get both students and parents up and dancing or playing percussion instruments, but also five of the brass students contributed their talents to “C Jam Blues,” by Duke Ellington.

The importance of the Summer Academy went beyond the evident boost of skills in the performing arts.

“This summer was really important to us because any gaps of learning due to Covid got a chance for the students to catch up,” Breidenbacher said. Additionally, she said, “Our beginners, our fourth-graders, got a month of daily instruction before the start of the 2021-22 school year, like a kickoff for the programs in the fall.”

“It was so wonderful to hear the students coming out of the classrooms,” Prisco-Buxbaum said. “I kept hearing, ‘That was my favorite class’ — after every class!”

Comments from the children were telling.

“Summer camp is really fun. I really enjoyed it, and I hope I can go next year,” said Khalani Dixon, headed for sixth grade this coming school year.

“It’s definitely a great experience, and I love it,” said Brianna Dean, headed for eighth grade at J.W. Dodd Middle School. She said she focused mainly on chorus and theater.

“It was actually really fun. We could do so many things around. For example, we could do orchestra, or some people did dance,” said Tatika Cepeda, a fifth-grader come September. “You can make so many new friends as well. And the interns are just so kind, as long as you’re obeying the teachers. Everyone just treats everyone amazingly.”

“I liked it. It was fun. I learned how to play my instrument, the violin,” said Benjamin Poplardo, who will start fourth grade in September.

“It was great,” said Joseph Poplardo, a soon-to-be sixth grader who played the cello in the string orchestra. 

“This year was truly unique,” Kuncham said. “Our administrators, teachers and student-interns did an outstanding job.”