By Beverly Jenkins

This school’s performing arts department will soon embark on its first ever service project. The charity, called Building Tomorrow, works to construct primary schools in Uganda. The organization plans to construct a school to be used mainly for performing arts and asked this school’s performing arts department for help in raising the money.
According to Richard Saucedo, performing arts department chairperson, Music Crossroads, an organization that promotes advocacy in musical events, put the school’s performing arts department in contact with Building Tomorrow.
“Our students are expected to do better and always win at competitions, but this is going to give them a different kind of finish line,” Saucedo said.
“It was a big compliment to be approached by this organization,” Tessa Wilkerson, performing arts student and junior, said, “because Building Tomorrow usually works with colleges and univerisites for these types of service projects.”
The department plans to set up a leadership team from all areas of the department, and there is already a long list of students who want to be on the team.
“We need to raise about $60,000 for the school,” Wilkerson said, “so all the revenue from the record will go toward that.”
A major fundraising item the performing arts department will be focusing on is a recording project that will ultimately become a CD / DVD that will be on sale in what is anticipated to be in the early spring, as well as other fundraising projects, according to Saucedo and Wilkerson.
Saucedo also said that around the time the recording project is up for sale is when students outside the department will really begin to see the effects of the service project. Preliminary tasks have been and are being accomplished, and the department will be ready to go in early December.
While the primary goal of course is to bring a new school to the children in Uganda, the department as a whole will benefit from this project as well, according to Wilkerson.
“People in this department usually split into whatever group they’re a part of,” Wilkerson said, “but this service project is department-wide. Orchestra, band, choir, drama, everyone’s going to be involved. I think it’s really going to unify the department.”
Saucedo said he believes that both the children in Uganda and the students here will experience the benefits. “Uganda is cuturally very music based, and it brings joy to the people there. Now (the performing arts department) can give the children that experience with this school. We can show that music is universal, whether it’s in a Ugandan war zone or Carmel; we can coexist and work together.”

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‘Building Tomorrow’ Schools

• April 2006: Meeting Point Kampala
• May 2008: BT Academy of Bembe
• June 2008: BT Academy of Kiyamba (construction begins)
• October 2008: BT Academy of Buwasa
• BT Academy of Kita (construction begins)

BUILDINGTOMORROW.ORG / SOURCE