"There's someones spit in my clarinet" exclaims a student. This is not an uncommon occurrence in at the beginning of our rehearsals. Because instruments are shared among multiple students at our school, cleaning them out after using them is essential to maintaining health and safety.
Every passionate teacher claims that they have the best students in the world.
They can't possibly be right, because I know that mine are the greatest. My students attend a large middle school in an urban setting. Although my students hail from all over the globe, they are brought together through the unbreakable bond of music. They are remarkable because they never let sharing instruments stop them from being great at what they do. They regularly participate in extra-curricular music activities within the school and community. Everything I ask them to do, is done with energy, enthusiasm and sincerity. They are an absolute joy to behold and through their musicianship and character, serve as an inspiration in our community.
My Project
In 2009 the Swine Flu epidemic hit home. My school was closed for more than a week. Many of my band students became very ill and as a result of the epidemic, we were excluded from competing in the State Festival. My students were not happy about the unexpected vacation, because they were deeply saddened by the lost opportunity to compete.
Since that semester, we have begun to work together to prevent sickness from spreading throughout the band. Sharing instruments is the only way for my students to play, so we have worked hard to keep the instruments clean. With severely limited funds, we cannot afford to replace swabs used to remove saliva, containing bacteria from our instruments. We have been using the same set of swabs for 2 years. Although I regularly clean them, they are disgusting and need to be replaced.
With help from this grant, all students will be able to clean the saliva out of their instruments, thus helping reduce the odor and prevent the spread of germs.
I have always envisioned being able to supply each student in my program with his/her instrument.
Due to severe budget constraints, this remains a distant goal. Having swabs to clean saliva out of instruments will keep them in better condition while helping to eliminate bacteria. Please consider helping my students. They are hard working, deserving and appreciative. Thank you for your time and consideration!
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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