Dear Editor:
I was shocked to hear that the choral program is to be cut at the Yorkton Regional High School.
There is not room here to state the documented benefits of music education for our young people.
The music programs in Yorkton have been well known and respected for so many years, both around the province, and the nation.
Countless students have benefitted from them, and as a result, so many students have careers now -as music teachers, directors, conductors, performers, composers.
From the time we arrived in Yorkton in 1967, the pride and support for music in the schools was outstanding.
That was why I moved to Yorkton.
As a music teacher in the Public and then Catholic schools (for 32 years!), I saw first hand, the benefits to our children, of this music program throughout the elementary schools and the Regional High School where my son Trent attended. He participated fully in the music programs there which aided his academic achievement and enhanced his high school and adult life experiences.
After retiring in 1999 I was the director of Yorkton Community Theatre, which produced musicals from 2000 to 2008 where many former students also performed, and enriched the lives of the sold-out audiences.
It was just another example of the joy that music brings to us all. What a regressive step in the most important task — the education and welfare of our children.
Gloria Herauf,
Comox, B.C.
