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Well, the school year is winding down.  For some institutions, like NDSU, it has already over.  Usually, this time of year I’d be writing about a college graduation, a traveling highs school choral concert or some such.  But not this year.  Just none of that on my plate.  But .this spring I attended a lot of elementary and middle school events.  True to my philosophy that if an event is worth attending, it’s worth writing about, what follows is some remarks about what our area has to offer  in this genre.

First, there was the Sullivan Middle School Spring Concert.  This began with three numbers by the Sullivan Band: a very interesting piece called ”A train heading west and other outdoor scenes,” “The Coast Guard March(all middle school band concerts must have a march)” and “ Song of the whaler.”
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The first of the scenes in the first offering was “Prairie Ritual,” indicating the appropriateness of this selection.  The actual Train Heading West sounded like, well, a train heading west.

The march was spirited, and I think the whole band offering impressive: worth listening to even if one knows anyone in the band.

The sixth grade band concert was, well, a sixth grade band concert.  At this point I’d like to mention the music director at Sullivan, Mr. Pacmara, who is obviously a hard working and dedicated educator th at in my view has worked miracles with these kids.

There followed two offerings by the sixth grade chorus: the hauntingly beautiful Israeli folk song “Zumm gali gali’ and the cute “Ode to Pluto(you’ll always be a planet to me).”  This, I think is the best one can do for a sixth grade choral concert.

Next up for me was the Holy Spirit Elementary School spring program, “He is there.”  Unlike the Sullivan concert, the offerings were all had a religious theme.  There were  several choral groups involved, the pre kindergarten grades K-5, grades K-2, grades 3-5 and 2-5.  Sometimes there was instrumental accompaniments by some of the older students and readings from by a large selection of students which gave the experience a formal feel.

Then there was the Butterfly Spring Recital by the Presidention Music Students, mentored and taught by Sister Bernadette.  The performers were all beginning through intermediate piano students There were two sessions, at 1:00 and 3:30.  Each reciter performed two pieces plus perhaps a “butterfly” composition of their own.  The level of the compositions was appropriate in all cases, allowing each student to showcase his/her particular talents.  At the risk of causing anyone to feel left out, I particularly enjoyed “Navajo Dreams” played by Grace Ward,, and “Fiesta de Seville,” and “Caprice a la carte” by Laura Sperling.

I think our community is fortunate to have an individual like Sister Bernadette willing to work with these kids to get them to this level.  Of course, the kids themselves deserve a lot of praise for wanting to spend this kind of time and effort to improve themselves in the performing    Moving away from scholl and towards summer, the Red River Soccer Club runs the Red River Soccer Academy for 6-9 year old aspiring soccer players.  Players of this age can opt to either play in a league or attend the academy, where there are taught soccer by coach twice a week in a hour to hour and a half session that includes a scrimmage.  Thls is serious about becoming good soccer players should chose the academy.

Summer fully arrive with the Fargo Park District-Hershey track meet.  This is a pre-teen event including field events and 50, 100 and 200 yard dashes and and 880 yard run.  Participants could choose two events in which to compete in their two year age group.

Wow.  Lots do do in this town if you’re a kid.