The Music In the Parks Festival in Chicago, Il was a showcase for the Yorkton Regional High School's (YRHS) Music department. The bands took many awards during festival, which featured over 30 bands from throughout Canada and the USA.
Jazz band received second place with an excellent rating. Concert band received first in their class with an excellent rating. Marching band received first in their class with a superior rating. Concert band received top high school group and the marching band took top high school marching band. Lauren Dobko was awarded top high school soloist as well. The award that Mark Zawerucha, director of the YRHS music department, is most proud of is the Esprit de Corps award for superior performance and attitude.
"It means a lot to me because it just shows they're great kids. They're polite to everyone, and that's what I want to see in every music student of mine," Zawerucha says.
The success of the band is the result of their hard work, Zawerucha says. He believes the awards can remind everyone the importance of hard work in achieving a goal.
"They rehearse three times a week. Twice a week they would be here at 7:30 in the morning, really early. Then on Sundays they were here for about an hour and a half in the evening. It just shows the students that if you put in a lot of work and go the extra mile, you will get good results," Zawerucha states.
The trip itself was an exciting event for the kids, as they not only were able to perform in a large festival, but also were able to tour Chicago and take in a variety of events, from baseball games to boat tours to the Chicago Symphony. Zawerucha says that the kids often said that the trip was one of the best they had been on as part of the band.
One of the most important things about a successful trip, Zawerucha notes, is that it gets people talking about the music program at YRHS. He hopes that with the success of this year's band, younger students will think about joining when they reach high school, in order to be a part of that legacy.
"Hopefully students that read how well we've done, they will consider taking band next year. A lot of our younger students in grade four and five, they see this happening and they hear how well we do and hopefully they want to be a part of it," Zawerucha says.
Zawerucha also notes that the students are also a good way to show what Yorkton has to offer, and that the success of the music program shows the city in a good light.
"Our students, they're good ambassadors for our city, and they definitely put Yorkton on the map when we do so well. When we go to a festival, people know where Yorkton is because our band does so well," Zawerucha concludes.
