Congratulations to the Tesoro High School Madrigals and the San Juan Hills High School Chamber Singers for their invitations to perform at the American Choral Directors Association Western Division Conference held in Pasadena March 6-9.  The Western Region encompasses all schools from California, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii, and the association is made up of choral directors from elementary school, middle school, high school, college/university, religious and professional choirs.  It's the highest honor in the U.S. for a traditional school choir to be invited to perform, and the fact that we have two from the same district is very special.  

 

A San Juan Hills High School dance teacher is about to be recognized for a second time by the Orange County Department of Education.

Kristine Calder, the San Juan Capistrano school’s dance program director and choreographer, will be one of 12 arts teachers honored at the 2024 Orange County Music and Arts Administrators (OCMAA) Awards Ceremony on Feb. 27. The annual event recognizes exceptional leadership and arts instruction as well as supportive administrators and community arts advocates.

“I put so much work into my program,” Calder said. “It’s thriving. I have a very low turnover rate. The kids just really enjoy it, and I’m excited the program is getting recognized.”

Calder is in her 24th year at Capistrano Unified, with 16 of those years at San Juan Hills. OCMAA last recognized her in 2005.

“The Orange County Music and Arts Awards is the premier recognition for Orange County’s outstanding arts educators and is highly regarded within the community for its recognition of quality instructional service,” Orange County Department of Education arts coordinator Scott Fitzpatrick stated in a news release.

 

 

Calder was born in the Philippines, moved the United States at age 13, and grew up in Alhambra. This year, she has about 170 students, and she also manages guest artists and oversees instruction for future choreographers and the senior showcase. Most seniors participate in the showcase before graduation.

The lifelong dancer and Cal State Long Beach alumna enjoys being creative.

“I love forming the relationships with my students, teaching them about dance,” Calder said. “I want them to be as passionate for dance as I am. I try to make it really fun. It’s like learning without knowing that you’re learning.”

San Juan Hills High puts on four shows a year with a variety of genres, from jazz and lyrical to musical theater and hip hop. The school also offers a modern dance conservatory aimed at students who want to pursue dance degrees at universities.

 

 

Brooke Valderrama, San Juan Hills’ activities director, added that Calder’s artistic vision always tells a story, and its backed by amazing costumes, lighting and music.

“She is her dancers’ biggest fan,” Valderrama said, “and she has made such a positive impact on so many students, whether they are performing on stage or watching from the audience.”

Calder’s students have gone on to prominent dance schools and positions, such as on the Disneyland Resort parades, Laker Girls, Clippers Spirit, and BlazerDancers.

Calder noted that she has seen as many as eight of her students performing at once for Disneyland.

“Kristine is the type of teacher that goes all in,” Valderrama said. “She is truly passionate about dance and has so much pride in her dancers and their abilities. Every show, pep rally and chance to perform, her students wow the audience with their skill and choreography.”

The Tesoro Chamber Orchestra recently performed at the 2024 Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association conference. 

During the conference, Newhart Middle School teacher Valerie Petty was named the Southern California School Band and Orchestra Association Middle School Educator of the Year.

 

 

A full account of the event can be found here: https://cusdinsider.org/tesoro-chamber-orchestra-performs-at-2024-southern-california-school-band-and-orchestra-association-conference/

 

Arroyo Vista holds 2nd Annual Madrigal Dinner

 

She bought paper wine bags when she ran out of the other cases. The wine bags were the perfect size for the narrow recorders, a temporary solution until she came up with a Plan B.

 

“Every year we loan recorders out to kids, we clean them up, sanitize, and send them back out. But the little sleeve bag, over time, began to shrink and you couldn’t close them and protect the recorder,” Evans said. “I started to wonder if there was a group of grandmas out there who liked to sew and who could make some for us.”

Enter the Surfside Quilters Guild in San Clemente.

 

The 200-strong quilters group in South Orange County holds meetings during the day, with most of the members retirees and grandmas who have the time to spend practicing the beautiful craft of quilting.

A big part of their organization is philanthropy. Members are busy each year making pillowcases and blankets for children at Children’s Hospital of Orange County, quilts for Marines, for seniors in the Meals and Wheels Program, and for kids in the foster system. Quilters from the Surfside Guild make and donate about 400 quilts a year.

 

 

This year when Co-Chairperson for Philanthropy Linda Chiu got the letter from Evans, the unique project was quickly approved, and the ladies of the Surfside Quilters Guild got to work.

 

“The recorder covers are something we’ve never done before, but we had the fabric, and it was a simple project, we just needed to form an assembly line,” Chiu said. “Someone ironed, someone was on the sewing machine … Everyone worked on it together and it came together fast.”

 

Surfside Quilters Guild member Vickie Janis has two grandchildren in the Capistrano Unified School District. She took the lead on the project and tried to get as many recorder covers done as possible before the group got busy with the holiday season, including their biggest fundraiser of the year, the Fall Fest.

 

“We’ve been able to finish about 100 covers, and it has been great to see the kids get excited about them,” said Janis, a retired seamstress. “It’s been such a fun thing to do for the school and for Mrs. Evans. She’s an exceptional music teacher.”