Continuing with the busy summer, the Sweet Home High School has seen a newer type of camp. This being the SHOCASE Music Camp.
This opportunity was granted through the Linn County Cultural Coalition, who gave a $1,800 grant to SHOCASE’s Education Committee. According to their website, The Linn County Cultural Coalition is an independent, nonprofit corporation that promotes development of the arts, heritage, and humanities in Linn County through periodic distributions of grant money from the Oregon Cultural Trust, supplemented by local donations. The grants given by this organization fund a broad range of cultural activities including arts education, historical preservation, community theater, concerts and library programs for toddlers and elders.
From just 2005 to 2020, the coalition distributed more than $178,000 among 87 different Linn County Organizations.
Both Ken and Kathy Collins are a part of the Education Committee through SHOCASE. SHOCASE is broken down into various roles including board chair, technology, theater, city art and the education committee. These roles all contribute to supporting the appreciation, education and promotion of the arts locally, as stated on their website.
Both Kathy and Ken have this position due to their previous knowledge in teaching. Ken was a longtime music teacher in Sweet Home that retired in 2001, according to Kathy. She also spent time as a teacher at the Holley School as a second and fourth grade teacher before retiring.
This allowed for an ease in teaching younger students in learning music. According to Kathy, kids attending have learned multiple different skills.
“I wanted to know what their expectations were [with the program]. They expected that they wanted to try some of the instruments in the band room, and maybe, they could even play some of them,” Kathy said.
With students’ hopes high for learning and using instruments, that’s what Kathy, Ken, and band director Lori Tuter set their goals at teaching. So far, students have learned a variety of things, from learning about the instrument families to the physics of sound. The students have also gotten opportunities to try instruments like the saxophone, the trumpet and even a clarinet.
Kathy hasn’t taken on the task of running a kids camp alone. She attributes alot of the success to the new band director, Lori Tuter.
“I’m really grateful for Lori Tuter for helping put this on,” Kathy said. “It really has been a lot of fun.”
The camp has been continuing for a total of twelve weeks, happening twice a week for a total of two and a half hours each day. Luckily enough for the committee, this camp fell perfect with the Sweet Home School Districts’ summer school.
Students would attend the summer school, then at 11:30 a.m, students would go to lunch at the boys and girls club, before coming back to the high school auditorium. This allowed for those attending the summer school, and the boys and girls club, to participate in the camp.
This was done, in part, because the district allowed usage of their facilities. The high school also had assistants who would help run the lobby.
“They seem to be making really good progress,” Kathy said. “The only thing that’s difficult is not all the kids attend everyday.”
Kathy stated that as few as seven kids showed up to the camp, with their maximum being 39 kids. The cost to attend was free thanks to the grant.
Throughout the 12 weeks, the kids have had many mini performances, with their most recent being July 24. Throughout the various performances, the group say many guest stars with local talent. During this performance, kids were dancing, singing, and even playing instruments such as the bucket drums and recorders.
Two of the kids attending, Kayson Burnett and Kinley Olsen both enjoyed their time during the camp. According to both of them, they hope to attend this camp again in the future.
With this years camp being a success, Tuter is looking forward to continuing the summer camps. This is all with the hopes of building the music programs back into elementary schools.