NHS Girl Scout Begins Spring Jam-Fest For Orchestra Students

By Eliza Hallabeck

When Newtown High School senior Alyssa Rodriguez was a seventh grade student at Newtown Middle School, she witnessed the high school orchestra perform a medley from a Lord of the Rings movie.

“And I was inspired,” said Alyssa, who recently put together The String Jam-Fest, presented Friday, May 21, in Newtown High School’s Lecture Hall.

Knowing she had been moved by seeing other students play, the violinist combined that idea with achieving her Girl Scouts of America Gold Award.

“I wanted everyone to be as excited as I was with music,” said Alyssa.

She hopes the String Jam-Fest will become an annual event in the district. A senior at the high school, Alyssa said she was excited to have begun something that could live beyond her schooling in the district. Alyssa will begin attending Ithaca College in the fall to study music composition.

The Gold Award is the highest award attainable in Girl Scouts. Each Girl Scout who receives a Gold Award must reach out to their community, develop and implement a service and leadership project. Girl Scouts must also put in at least 65 hours of their personal time to achieve the award.

(Alyssa completed her Girl Scout Silver Award last year by compiling an activity guide book for Newtown residents. )

The Friday evening Jam-Fest had 96 people in attendance, by Alyssa’s head count.

“The event was to have all three levels of orchestra play in one concert,” Alyssa said.

With the guidance of her mentors — two adult Girl Scout leaders, along with Mardi Smith, a Reed School music teacher — Alyssa envisioned a night of fun where orchestras from Reed Intermediate School, Newtown Middle School and Newtown High School would combine with duets, quintets, quartets and ensembles of strings outside the formality of regular concert performances at each school separately. 

According to NMS technology education teacher Don Ramsey, one of Alyssa’s teachers from NMS and who attended the Jam-Fest, the event was a symphony of talent from all three schools.

Preparation for the event included advertising and developing a flyer with her friend and co-performer Linea Kemsley, transcribing and arranging music from the popular video game The Legend of Zelda, and coordinating the program with representatives of the three schools, according to Mr Ramsey.

Instead of being charged for tickets, Jam-Fest goers were asked to bring in nonperishable items to be donated to the Newtown Food Pantry.

Among the performers were Talia Harkin on cello, NMS student Jaxx Winkler on violin and guitar, NHS students Marina Lleanart and Julie Ficks on cellos performing Vivaldi Concerto in G minor,  and Alyssa herself with Linea Kemsley on violins performing Phoenix Wright’s “Objection.”

Other highlights were performances by the Reed School Chamber Ensemble, Newtown High School Quartet, and Rachel Fintz’s Quintet.  

The NHS Quartet played a medley of music from The Legend of Zelda. The evening’s finale, “Flight of the Firebird,” was originally composed and performed by Alyssa and the NHS Quartet.  She credits this as one of the pieces that won her admission to Ithaca College.

“I’m glad to have inspired other students,” Alyssa said following the event, “and to have made a night that will become fun and memorable.”