Forest Park—The Winton Woods High School music department is $10,000 richer thanks to their video being chosen as a second place winner in the Glee Give a Note Contest. There were 492 schools across America that submitted videos, and over two million votes cast to determine the winners.
“I am so thrilled that our video was chosen as one of the winners,” said Winton Woods High School Assistant Choir Director Elizabeth Barth, who was in charge of creating the video. “There were many great videos and very deserving schools, and I am excited about the possibilities that this money will bring for our program and our students. The money will be split up so that the orchestra, band, choir and a cappella groups each receive a part of it. The directors of those ensembles can decide how it can best be used.”
The $1 million awarded to schools by the contest was divided into 73 prizes. Three schools won the grand prize of $50,000; 10 schools won the first place prize of $25,000 and 60 schools won the second prize of $10,000. Videos of winning schools can be seen at www.gleegiveanote.com.
"I am so proud of Lizbee Barth, who with the assistance of Fine Arts Director Dave Bell, her music colleagues, and Winton Woods High School music students produced the winning Glee Give a Note video,” said Principal Dr. Terri Holden. “Our students are the school's and the community's most valuable resource. It is critical that we support music education as a way for students to develop their musical talents as well as learn how to be a better citizen by collaborating with others and broadening their horizons.”
The Glee Give a Note campaign was created to bring attention to the importance of music education in schools and also to help provide funding to school music programs in need. The $1 million was funded through sales of the Glee DVDs – $1 of each DVD sold went toward the $1,000,000. The Glee Give a Note contest invited eligible schools to submit videos about why their school was in need of a music education grant. After a public voting period, videos were evaluated by teams of NAfME music educators who looked at its relevance to music education, emotional and inspirational appeal, demonstration of financial need and public voting.
“The selection of your school’s video entry as a contest winner is a tremendous achievement, and is a testament to the hard work of everyone associated with your school and your music program,” said Jane M. Balek, assistant executive director for the National Association for Music Education in a letter to Holden.
I’m thankful to everyone in the community and across the country who voted for our video, to the students for helping to put the video together and for being a daily source of inspiration, and to all of the Winton Woods staff, administration and school board for always being so supportive of our program,” said Barth.
