Ep 29 | Scholarships Opportunities that ENHANCE Academic Performance?

SPEAKER_00 0:00

When you take an instrument or art or a visual art, any kind of fine arts, you tend to be more involved in school. You have a group waiting for you to show up for rehearsals. You will find that you excel in your reading classes and your math and your science. It's proven studies have proven that you will excel in other areas.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Welcome to the Voices United in Education podcast. Each week we showcase the teachers, administrators, and community members who go the extra mile to contribute to the success of every student in Escambia County. You'll meet the real people behind the titles and learn about the amazing resources to support every student's success. No one really understands what goes on in the head of a high school student, but we do know what a lot of parents are thinking. How am I going to get you to college without breaking the bank? And to complicate things, many performance-based scholarships revolve around sports, which can often take a toll on academic performance. So is it possible to set students up for scholarships while enhancing their academic performance? My next guest doesn't just think so, she knows so. She tracks student performance on standardized testing and has found the golden ticket. She's the orchestra director at Washington, Pine Forest, and Escambia High Schools. Today she's going to share the history of the string program in Pensacola and how it enhances student success. Passionate performer, musical mentor, Woodham High School graduate Christina Freerdick. Thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Well, thank you for having me. That was really kind.

unknown 1:50

That was really nice.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

Well, you have such an interesting, familial history with Pensacola. And I just think Pensacola is just like a strange uh factory of talent. I mean, we when you look at the talent that has come out of our town, there's a lot of it. And it's a unique place at the intersection of talent and history. And your family and your history is right at that intersection. So let's kick things off by talking about your family history with the orchestra.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

It is. Well, I started as a student in the orchestra program and was lucky enough to have my father as my orchestra teacher pretty much my entire life. He decided to go back to school as a 30-year-old musician playing in rock bands in Pensacola and transferred his electric bass knowledge to string bass and attended UWF locally. So I remember as an eight-year-old going to his senior recitals and watching him learn how to be a music educator. And I guess at the age of uh maybe 10, 11, I would walk over to the middle school and sit in with his youth orchestra once he became an orchestra teacher. So growing up in the program, um, I went off to college and majored in music and came back 20 years later to actually become an orchestra teacher myself. So it is definitely a family business. Um, labor of love. My brother, Jonathan Clark, teaches fifth grade violin in the in the city, I mean in Pensacola, and my sister-in-law, his wife, also teaches high school orchestra, middle school orchestra, elementary orchestra as well. And like you mentioned, I'm at three high schools and two elementary schools teaching fifth graders.

SPEAKER_01 3:36

Wow. I'm imagining your family get togethers. Do y'all like get the instruments out?

SPEAKER_00 3:40

Oh, on occasion, we do. We do. We also had a band when I was growing up called Clark and Company that I think a lot of people in Pensacola grew up with out at the beach. Oh, really? Grass and country. We did a lot of different things with our music.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

So wow. So your family history is with the educational part of the program. Is that different from the Pensacola Orchestra?

SPEAKER_00 4:02

It's different from Pensacola Symphony, yes. But I have also been a member in the past of the Pensacola Symphony, as well as my my brother has as well. So it's a little different. But we for 34 years, my dad was the very first orchestra teacher when they just started the program. And the program came about because the Navy saw a need for their um their people to have their children enrolled in string programs that they were getting up north and they would transfer down to Pensacola and there was no string program. So the Navy was involved in getting the string program started. My dad was at four schools, traveled around, and as the numbers grew, the district hired more and more teachers. And we're currently at seven teachers in the district, covering up to 22 schools at a time. Whoa. We're spread very thin, but the numbers they require, we, you know, we have room for more teachers, and we all know that's a challenge right now.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Yeah, and room for more students.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

And room for more students, always, yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:04

So what instruments do you play?

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Well, I play the violin, viola, cello, bass, piano. I teach I teach all the string instruments in my class. It's different from band or marching band. We are strictly strings. Uh violin, like I said, is my main instrument.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Wow. That's incredible. I love that. You know, I have to confess that I always thought any sort of musical program at a school was for smart kids who were bored. So I want to hear about this academic enhancement stuff because that's really new information for me.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

Well, uh string instruments are for anyone and everyone. We do not discriminate any demographic, any race, any ethnicity. We we are here for every student to help them succeed. It's a very economical instrument to learn to play, starting with the violin. We start in the in the fifth grade pro uh classroom right now. We can talk more about that later. But when you take an instrument or art or a visual art, any kind of fine arts, you you tend to be more involved in school. You have a group waiting for you to show up for rehearsals. You uh will find that you excel in your reading classes and your math and your science. It's proven, studies have proven that you will excel in other areas. Um, fine arts motivate students to go to school. I'm coming to school so that I can be part of that rehearsal and enjoy the extracurricular. That's what they call that.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

So, what is it about the music that helps students in the other areas? Is it some is it like a connection in the brain or well, you're using every single part of your brain.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

When you are holding that instrument, you are your left hand is doing one thing, your right hand is doing another, you are looking at the music, processing the notes on a page, processing the rhythms. So you are reading and you are counting and you're using motor skills. It's very involved. It uses every part of your brain. And, you know, I'm familiar with the new acronyms that are being thrown around with STEM, STEM, science, technology, engineering, and math. They have decided to add an A to the acronym. It is now STEAM A standing for the arts. They've proven that students that graduate with the most arts credits at the end of their high school years have scored higher on exams, they have scored higher in math and science, and just overall are a higher functioning student.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Wow, that's incredible. So even those standardized testing, the they're higher on all of those, which could lead to more academic opportunities, which was kind of what I was alluding to in the intro. Um, because as an athlete, uh I was taken out of class to go to my games and such. And so that was a real conflict on all levels with my teachers, with my academic performance, all of it. Uh, but the idea that you could participate in something that was personally satisfying as a student, which obviously for me soccer was, but you know, if uh if it's music for the student, I think that's that's a real win for the parents, the teachers, the future of the child when they graduate high school, all of it is it is, not to mention the the scholarship opportunities that come later in life.

SPEAKER_00 8:33

I was never going to be a football player, obviously. So there were no football scholarships for me out there. I studied violin from Anna Tringus, one of our local teachers from the past, and knew that I was going to college for music. So I was able to audition at several universities as a senior, and I received a full scholarship, full ride to college through my violin skills. So that was kind of a neat opportunity that not many musicians even realized exists.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

So there's how many uh scholarships are out there?

SPEAKER_00 9:05

Are there many for music? Many scholarships for music, even minoring in music. If you just really if you go on the internet and look up any college music school, they have lots of money to give these students that are in arts programs, band, orchestra, art, fine arts, visual arts. You just have to read what the requirements are, work towards that your senior year, learn the music that you need, audition, and you don't have to major in music. They want you in their orchestra just like a football team wants a good quarterback. They want that first chair violinist, they want those cello players, bass players, and they will give you music to come to their school, give you money to come to their school and be in their orchestra. They want to produce a good, a good sounding, successful orchestra just like a football team wants to be successful.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

That's interesting. I heard uh that you try to help your students find the scholarships. Is that true?

SPEAKER_00 10:01

I do. We just finished an assignment where they had to go on on the internet, which they don't mind because they have their phones and their hot little hands all the time. Right. So we Googled our favorite universities and our local universities, UWF and Pensacola State College, also offer scholarship money to our local musicians to come to their music schools. And they were required to find out what the audition dates were, what the requirements were, and uh got kind of excited because no one, you know, their math teacher, their science teacher aren't encouraging this right now. They're trying to get them through the year. And uh, but with the fine arts, it's it's exciting for them to have a possibility of going off to college and having it paid for.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Yes. I mean, and parents, very excit that's a very exciting prospect for all the parents. Right. What about you know, uh careers that someone who graduates with a music-related degree could be eligible for?

SPEAKER_00 10:58

Well, I started with a music performance degree. I was gonna move away from Pensacola and be a solo violinist with the big sim Atlanta Symphony, and then at the very end of my college career, I saw a need in Pensacola for more orchestra teachers. The program had grown. So at the the last hour, I changed my degree to music education and got my music education degree, moved back to Pensacola, which everybody wants to do, and um got a job teaching orchestra. But in addition to that, I have a student currently that wants to major in chemistry, but she's getting um money from the the university she's attending to minor in music. She's gonna also go into music therapy. Um I have students that want to major in music production, sound production. Uh there are opportunities to go into music management, manage a big theater like the Sanger Theater, book uh orchestras and uh plays to come to your theater. You can major in music marketing, music education, all kinds of different channels to travel down as a musician. You don't have to be a performance major.

SPEAKER_01 12:09

I had no idea there were so many ways to use that degree because I think I was kind of stuck in, you know, the wrong information that if you graduate with a music degree, uh, you know, you're gonna probably just be a teacher, or maybe you won't even use it. I don't know. I I don't think I have met many people and in musical fields, or I didn't realize it because once you just listed all those people, I thought, wait a minute, I know about two of those four people that you just mentioned, not personally, but people in those positions. And how cool that they would be able to start their career off strong by having no or less college debt.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Right, right. And you know, also going into music doesn't mean that you are playing nightclub gigs to make money. You know, you there are many job opportunities. And being a musician is something you can do when you're 80 years old. You're not playing football or soccer at 80 years old.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Let me tell you, you ain't playing soccer at 40, okay.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

You you can play your instrument anywhere, anytime, for as long as you desire. But it's a skill that you have to start young. There, that's why we started it in the fifth grade with our string program. Start start your students while when they're still developing their motor skills. It's a very great opportunity here in Pensacola.

SPEAKER_01 13:26

I would think that there would be some strong cognitive uh benefits that would last well into adulthood if you would keep them. You know, you the you hear about um unfortunately older adults who have onsets of dementia, Alzheimer's, you know, cognitive decline.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

You've seen the videos of the the gentleman and the gentleman in the nursing home that can remember the words to a song and can sing the entire song but not remember faces. It's you know, their music has a certain place in our brain and in our heart that is human and stays with us forever.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

That actually leads me perfectly to my next question. I wanted to know, just personally, what does being a musician mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Well, when I was young, it had it's meant different things to me. When I was younger, it was a lot of fun for me to get up on stage and perform and and goof around with my dad and the band and and entertain audiences and watch people dance and have a good time. And as I got older, it was a way to get a college degree. So it was a it was I was very serious about my music. Um, I graduated. Now that I'm a teacher, I can't even describe over a microphone what it feels like to me when I walk out of my classroom after teaching a lesson. It's really different. Um I had a little boy come up to me. I teach one of my classes is in a portable. I teach in all kinds of different venues. I'm in on stages, I'm in dance rooms, I'm in portables, I'm in an empty classroom in some places. But I had a little boy come up to me with his instrument and his backpack, and he just threw everything down and looked around the walls of the portable, and he said, he said, he sighed, ah, everything I need right here in this little box. And he called our portable the little box. So I'm touching lives with my music now, not just my life. I'm touching other people's lives. And at the end of a concert, I'll talk to the students and ask them, how is that experience for you? And the feedback I get from kids is more than it's it's very personal to me what I do. Being able to touch these kids and give them the experiences that I had when I was young.

SPEAKER_01 15:43

That gives me goosebumps.

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Yeah, it's really neat.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

I'm very blessed. Well, you are kind of a pro at inspiring, you know, people to come together for the kids. And now that you've said all that, I I can see why. Can you share the story of what happened when you were working at the portable at Workman?

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Speaking of little boxes, yes. So, and it was that same little box. Uh, one evening, I think four years ago now, lightning struck my portable at Workman Middle School and burned it to the ground. Literally, just the walls fell open. All of my wooden cellos, wooden violins, basses. Uh-huh. Only thing left was a pile of metal strings.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 16:25

The stands, the chairs. The saddest part, I had filing cabinets full of sheet music that's very expensive that we've saved over the 34 years my father had taught. And the firefighters blessed their hearts, took their pickaxes and poked holes in the in the um filing cabinets and put their water hoses in the filing cabinets and filled them with water. But we were able to open them up and we pulled enough music out that we saved quite a bit. It's just a little singed around the edges. So we had some really good uh mementos. We made Christmas ornaments that year out of shredded burnt music.

SPEAKER_01 17:02

So it was fun. But through that fun, that's how you know you're a teacher. You're like, there was this terrible disaster, and we made it fun. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

So um that morning when they called me, I I thought they were kidding. I'm like, you're kidding, right? I'm like, no. So I went down to my school and stood there with the principal and at the time Malcolm Thomas, and we just stared at this pile of it was still on fire, still smoking, and I looked at my I said, what are we gonna do? The very next week, I started getting instruments dropped off at the office. People went into their attics, found grandma's violin, and brought it up to school. I had local businesses writing checks. I had um a business out of California write a check for $15,000. The local news agencies did big stories about it. The community just opened up and within uh two months, we were able to purchase everything we needed to start over again. The district brought me a new portable and uh we rebuilt thanks to the community. It it was amazing how much the the arts actually meant to the community. It wasn't amazing. Pensacola is already very supportive of the arts.

SPEAKER_01 18:17

And they're very um, I've noticed, just very a come together-you know- not a word, but it can be a word for this moment. You know, we are accustomed to hurricane relief and I mean that one year we had tornadoes, and so coming together is nothing that we are a stranger to. And so how special that it was for this cause for the kids and not just for that particular class, but you know, so it can continue going on.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

Yes, the firefighters came back and brought us a check for a thousand dollars, and oh my gosh. All the local business music businesses stepped forward and donated instruments nationally, Yamaha donated instruments. Um, we had orchestras from around the country sending us boxes of music. So it was it was really heartwarming to say the very least.

SPEAKER_01 19:06

That is so cool. I uh if there's parents out there who know the value that music brings to the community, and a lot like the community members who pitched in back then want to contribute financially to this program to help it, you know, uh continue to advance. Is there a way that they can do that?

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Absolutely. So we have an account with the uh Escambia County Public School Foundation. I think that a lot of people are familiar with the foundation. They can write a check or they can call the Public School Foundation and request to donate to the Escambia County Youth Orchestra. That is the name that's all-encompassing for all of our string programs. And we have an account. With that account, we use the money to repair instruments, purchase strings, buy rosin, and sheet music, first and foremost, is very expensive. Copyright law. We all have to buy original, we have to have originals in our possession. And uh it's we're getting to the point in the year where strings are breaking and rosin is running out. So anything that you know people can donate, they can contact the the district for sure.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

Okay, we'll make sure to put that phone number and resource in our episode notes so it's an easy find. Yes. And then lastly, if a parent wants to get their kid involved, maybe dip their toe in the water. Right. Well, how do they do that?

SPEAKER_00 20:31

Well, we currently have a program that starts in the fifth grade at most of the elementary schools here in Escambia County, and it's a free program. The lessons are free. We visit these elementary schools twice a week. All you have to do is provide an instrument for your child and the book that we use and a folding music stand. And we show up at these schools twice a week and give these students a 30-minute uh violin lesson for free, entirely on the district. We start them young, fifth grade, and then going into middle school, most middle schools have an orchestra program that they can be a part of, and that meets daily.

SPEAKER_01 21:09

That is really cool. That's very good to know. Thank you so much for being here and sharing this today. This was great.

SPEAKER_00 21:15

Thanks for having me. It's something very dear to my heart, family business, and I'm I'm the m most blessed orchestra teacher in Pensacola.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

Thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe and share. Voices United in Education is a production of Escambia County Public Schools.