Greensburg Daily News, Greensburg, IN

December 6, 2011

Chargers celebrate Yuletide with music

Elizabeth Bailey
Greensburg Daily News

Greensburg — GREENSBURG - North Decatur Jr/Sr High School hosted its eighth annual Yuletide Dinner Saturday, supporting the efforts of the performing arts department.

The Music Parents hosted a silent auction to raise funds to assist with the department's trip to Florida in the spring, offering a wide variety of items to the many bidders on hand. The evening's 50/50 drawing garnered $244.50 for the program.

North Decatur graduate Cassie Cox noted 2011 was the first year that all dinner table seats had been sold out, leading to the creation of a "North Pole" seating option. These tickets, she explained, sold for a lower price, as they did not include dinner but rather drinks and pie.

"This is our biggest fundraiser of the year," the former choir member said.

Full tables lined the gymnasium diagonally with hundreds sharing a meal and the experience of hearing musicians from grade 7 through 12. In all, 47 songs were performed by groups and individual performers. The 7th and 8th grade choirs performed, as did the North Decatur Singers, Concert Choir and Girls Choir. The Junior and Senior High bands also performed, as did the Jazz Band.

Various students also took to the microphone both with their voices and instruments. These included Robbie Niese, Kendall Garno-Foote, Alexis Jarman, Claire McDaniel, Janine Goeft, Madalyn Nobbe, Allison Byrd, Morgan Burkart, Claire McDaniel, Emily Root, Lindsey Rousseau, Nick Stewart, Kelsey Moorman, Bobbi Corbin, Jessica Seay, Kaitlin Bedel, Michaela Shake, Olivia Shake, Jamee Nielson, Nick Gehrich, Jenna Jennings, Allie Louder, Beth Bowman and Joel Walters.

There are many more people whose efforts made the program possible, as more than 200 students participate in the choir program alone. Choir director Dan Borns noted that there are 70 students in the 7th Grade Choir, many enticed by a recent practice of visiting the elementary school.

Borns said that junior and seniors travel next door to perform for the younger students, inviting them to join in. They then add the students' names to a list that later becomes the choir roster. While many have never participated in choir before, he noted the group enjoys learning together.

The band program is growing as well, under the direction of Jonathon Edwards. Various student instrumentalists were among those who performed solo pieces.

Accompanists for the evening included Sue Menefee and Connie Fruchtnicht.

To learn more about events at North, visit http://ndhs.decaturco.k12.in.us.