| | | Welcome Choir Parents and Families
Welcome to the choir program at Cretin-Derham Hall. Your daughter or
son's choice to be involved in choir at the school is a good one. The
Choirs of Cretin-Derham Hall are building on a long tradition while
looking toward future excellence. The benefits of involvement in the
arts at the high school level are truly immeasurable. And your support
of their involvement in this vibrant and growing program is vital and
very appreciated.
Getting Involved
The biggest and most important thing you can do to be involved in your
child's vocal music experience at CDH is to support them. Concert
attendance is especially important as those performances are the
culmination of weeks' worth of work for the students.
There are also other ways in which to get involved with the Choirs of Cretin-Derham Hall as a parent or family member:
Volunteering
Happenings Books Sale - coordinator and/or assistants needed
The choir members will be selling the familiar discount books
again this year. We will
also be selling the books at the CDH Back to School Night in September.
The volunteer leader would be asked to coordinate the sale of the books
on back to school night. Additional help could involve encouraging
students and families to take part in the project and perhaps help with
double checking money collection. He or she could also coordinate
student sales if available during the school day, however that would be
a job Mr. Jacobson could easily do. Timeline: late August through September; with attendance before, during, and after Back to School Night on Wednesday, September 21.
Poinsettia Sale - coordinator and assistants needed
Once again the choirs will be doing a Gertens Poinsettia Sale. The plan is to have delivery coordinated with
the Christmas Dinner and Silent Auction on December 3/4, however Gertens needs orders to be placed at the end of
October. The volunteer would help with compiling a master order from student order forms,
totaling the amount sold by individual students, possibly help with
money collection, and then coordinating delivery. Timeline: early October, orders at the end of the month, and then delivery December 3 in the morning and following the Dinner on the 4.
Choir Dresses - coordinator and possible assistants needed (Select Treble Choir parents only)
This
project would involve sorting dresses by size and assigning them to
students. Also measuring for and ordering new dresses as needed. Timeline: early September to assure adequate delivery and alteration time for new dresses.
Choir Robes - coordinator and possible assistants needed (Vocal Arts Ensemble parents only)
This
project would involve sorting robes by size (already fairly completed,
just some re-sorting from this past spring), assigning robes to
students, and then labeling the robes for students to be able to find
them. Some of the robes could also use some minor repair - sewing some
zippers in etc. And because of growth in the program new robes will need to be sorted and labeled when they are delivered. Timeline: any time prior to the first use of the robes preferably late September or early October.
Christmas Dinner Invitations & Tickets - coordinator and assistants needed
This
person, or people, would be responsible for the design, printing, and
distribution of invitations for the Christmas Dinner. Students will be
asked to help with sending invitations/selling tickets and money raised
from ticket sales by individual students will go into their trip
accounts, so the volunteer will be asked to keep track of how many
tickets students sell and maybe help in encouraging students to sell.
The volunteer would also keep track of the total number of tickets
sold. Timeline: early November through the Dinner on December 4.
Christmas Dinner Decorations - coordinator and assistants needed
This
is a big project which might comfortably be divided between two or three individuals, the person(s) in this project would
coordinate decorating the CDH Auxiliary Gym for the Christmas Dinner.
There are some materials already in the possession of the choir for
decoration and others could possibly be borrowed from the band or will
be rented from the caterer. In addition there is a small budget for
purchasing decorative items, however the less spent on decorations the
higher the fundraising amount so we do want to keep that in check. The
volunteer would be asked to help (or take over...) the design of the
decorations and coordinate the set-up of those decorative elements. The
choir students will be required to assist with set-up, including
decoration. Timeline:
planning, preferably prior to Thanksgiving; set-up in the morning of
December 3; and removal to storage following the dinner.
Christmas Dinner Silent Auction - coordinator and assistants needed
This
is
another big one that might be to divide between a couple of
volunteers. This can be a major source of funding for trip cost assistance. The
volunteer(s) would be asked to help provide ideas for potential auction
items, assist in procuring those items, perhaps encourage students and
families in procuring items, set up the auction, price and produce bid
sheets for the items, and then run and check-out the auction at the
Christmas Dinner itself. Timeline:
planning and item procurement in early November, set up on December 3,
and before, during, and after the Christmas Dinner.
SEC Music Festival - assistants needed
This year CDH will be hosting the Suburban East Conference Music Festival. This is a huge event that rotates through the schools in the conference. It takes a tremendous amount of organization which will be handled by the administration and music staff at CDH. Much of the supervision and organizational tasks during the day will be handled by the CDH faculty. However, there will also be a need for significant parental assistance throughout the day and evening. Timeline: Monday, February 5 specific times within 8am-10pm TBD.
Contest Chaperones - assistants needed
Because of growth in the choir program students may no longer be able to travel to destinations for contest on one bus. Both for that reason and just in consideration of larger numbers of students chaperones will be needed to help supervise the students while at this event. This is a fairly simple volunteer activity as the students will have required activities and locations during the event, it might even be a good opportunity for grandparents or other older and/or retired relatives. Timeline: Thursday, April 12 specific times within 8am-3pm TBD.
Other Areas
If you have additional areas of how you could help the choir those suggestions are always welcome!
How to Volunteer
There is a section on the student information form sent home as a part of the choir syllabus in which you can indicate an interest in volunteering. You can also email Mr. Jacobson to volunteer. Remember that grandparents, aunts, uncles, and other adult family members are also very welcome to volunteer to help the choirs!
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Choir News
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