THE MUSIC spanned the 1940s through the 1990s. And the people spanned several decades, too.
Seniors from Glenelg High School and senior citizens from western Howard County came together April 17 at the fifth Senior Senior Prom at Glenelg High School.
Members of Glenelg's National Honor Society sponsored the event.
Kiva Feldman, the organization's president, planned the evening with the society's three other officers: Blair Heinke, vice president; Katy Vance, secretary; and Gia Palacorolla, treasurer.
All are in their senior years at Glenelg.
Kiva said the group chose a spring theme and decorated the cafeteria in bright spring colors. Each of the 60 students who attended brought a dessert to share. Drinks were provided by the National Honor Society.
At first, according to Kiva, not much mixing occurred between the groups. But that changed.
"By the end of the evening," Kiva said, "everybody was dancing together -- with some cajoling from the deejay."
Kate Reinke, mother of a former student, and her friend, Ellen Kilby, served as disc jockeys and entertained the group with dance music.
Reinke and her daughter, Emily, conceived the idea for the Senior Senior Prom four years ago. Emily was then Glenelg National Honor Society president.
In June, Emily is to graduate from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her mother continues to provide music for the prom because she enjoys it so much.
Betty Frey, director of Western Howard County Senior Center, worked with the organizing committee and promoted the event to the senior citizens.
Frey said it was an enjoyable evening for all.
"The kids got the seniors up and taught them the old disco dances," she said. "And one of the senior citizens taught everyone a line dance."
Phil Singleton, National Honor Society adviser and an English teacher at the school, gave the students much of the credit for the success of the event.
"They did all the planning," he said. "Things went very well, and everyone had a good time."
Musicians succeed
It's been a great month for the Glenelg High School music department.
More than 300 talented students received recognition recently for their efforts.
This month, the choral and strings departments participated in a national adjudication sponsored by the organization Music Festivals on board a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship bound for the Bahamas.
An adjudication is an evaluation; the groups were rated according to predetermined criteria rather than competing directly against each other.
The Glenelg groups returned home with 10 awards.
The Glenelg Orchestra, Concert Choir, Men's Choir, Women's Choir and Madrigal Singers earned superior ratings when judged according to national standards. Superior means they received scores of at least 90 out of a possible 100.
The tenor section of the Men's Choir earned the Outstanding Section Award, and the Madrigal Singers earned the Outstanding Choral Group Award.
Three individual students also received awards. Sophomore Kate VanAkin won the Outstanding Accompanist Award.
Senior Aaron McWethy earned the Outstanding Soloist Award.
And senior Brian Rice earned the Overall Outstanding Musician Award.
Nancy Buckel, director of the choral department, explained that this was the first time the students participated in an adjudication. She expected them to score pretty well.
"The Madrigal Singers received a perfect score from one judge and 99.5 from the other -- that was a surprise," Buckel said.
The orchestra is under the direction of Kevin George.
Last weekend, several other groups from the music department competed in the Orlando Festival of Music held at Universal Studios Florida.
Twenty-one high schools from 11 states took part in the competition.
Glenelg's Concert Band, Jazz Band and Marching Unit took first place in their divisions with superior ratings, and each band was named Grand Champion of all divisions for its category.
Barry Enzman, director of the three bands, said the divisions are based on school populations. Smaller schools, which Glenelg is considered to be, are grouped together.
"Other divisions had schools with 3,000 to 4,000 students, so their talent pool is obviously larger," Enzman said. "If people hadn't heard of Glenelg before, they certainly have now."
Enzman said the competition was a great experience, but the best part for him is the process.
"I love taking the kids from point A to point B," he said. "You always strive for that perfect performance -- which is impossible to achieve -- but along the way some pretty amazing things happen, like these performances."
The Glenelg Drill Team and "Silks," sometimes called "flags," also competed in Orlando.
The Silks, under the direction of Diane Bissell, took first place with a superior rating in its division.
The Drill Team won first place with a superior rating for its division and was declared Grand Champion for all divisions.
Terry Newsome is the director.
This year, the Drill Team competed in the National Cheerleading Association Regional Championship and placed first in pompon routines and second in kick routines.
Sheep and wool
This weekend, the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship will be the site of the 26th Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival.
The festival will feature a parade of sheep breeds, demonstrations in sheep-shearing, spinning and weaving wool, working sheep dogs, shepherd skills and more than 250 vendors of crafts.
Auctions, fiber arts competitions and workshops for children are scheduled.
And, a presentation on a breed of sheep prominent in 18th-century farming, the rare Leicester Longwools, is planned.
The festival will be run 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. Admission and parking are free.
Information: Leslie Bauer at 410-531-3647, or the Web site at www.SheepandWoolFestival.org.
Neighbors sing
At 8 p.m. tomorrow, some of our neighbors will sing in the Columbia Pro Cantare's "An Evening at the Opera."
Western Howard County singers Susan Brickell, Larry LaGuardia, Kaye Pelovitz and Bunny Ryjkoff will perform selections from a variety of operatic works.
The concert will be at Jim Rouse Theatre for the Performing Arts at Wilde Lake High School, 5460 Trumpeter Road, Columbia.
Tickets are $17 for adults; $15 for seniors and students.
A $2 surcharge will be added to tickets that are purchased at the door.
Information: 410-465-5744.
Officers needed
Molly Shea of the Mount View Middle School PTA reports that the PTA is looking for a president and first vice president for next year.
Anyone interested in the positions should contact Sherri Levy at 410-313-2819.
Pub Date: 4/29/99