Chichester High Choral Group Has School Spirit

The Chichester high school Choral group were recognized for the participation in the Heritage Festival at the May 17^th Chichester School District Board Meeting.

 On April 17^th, the fifty-five member Choral group boarded a bus bound for Annapolis, Maryland to partake in the Heritage Festival,  which refers to one of the various band and choir festival s that take place in the country.

“We got up bright and early on a Saturday morning to board a bus at school at 6:45 AM,” stated chorus member Stephanie Kelly, who is a senior at Chichester high school. “the whole trip was a lot of fun and we got to see a lot of the sights in Annapolis.”

Also, on hand to represent the Chichester choral group at the meeting were juniors Rich Tutak and Katie Van Newkirk.

 Throughout the year, The Heritage Festival organization holds several festivals at different locations through out America, such as New York City and Cleveland, Ohio.

Highschools throughout the U.S. are invited to register and participate in the festival of their choice, where they can compete against other high schools for gold, silver, and bronze placements.

Also, at the festivals student choral and band groups are invited to perform in front of adjudicators or judges, to be critiqued on their performance, as well as awarded points.

The festival also offers ‘mini-clinics’, which occur after a performance, during which judges can give immediate feedback and direction on improvement, while the performance is still fresh in the students’ minds.

“The choral group has been in different competitions over time, but it was apparent at this particular competition we were competing with the big dogs,” stated school board member Paul Amand. “We received good feedback and I am very proud of the choral group’s performance.”

During their performance, the group performed three songs including “Jesus Spread My Love Around and “No Mirrors in my Nana’s House.”

The Chichester choral group placed bronze for their performance and was awarded a plaque at an awards ceremony held at the Medieval Times Restaurant in Baltimore, Maryland.

“I just want to say these three young people are very involved in a variety of groups at school,” stated Chichester high school president Nancy Alexander. “That shows a lot of school spirit.”

Spirit is something the Chichester choral group undoubtedly possesses. The group also is involved with such philanthropic programs as VH1’s Save the Music Foundation, which aims to raise awareness of the importance of music and art programs in schools.

“We held an ‘open mike’ night where anyone could come out and sing or perform music,” explained Tatuk. “We paired up with Garnet Valley high school and had over 39 acts. We haven’t totaled up all the proceeds but all of it is going to the Save the Music Foundation.”

The group also recently held a concert in conjunction with the Elam United Methodist Church in Glen Mills. The concert raised money for the James Riley Family Fund. The fund benefits the Riley family, who had their Upper Chichester home devastated by fire back in March, leaving the family of three homeless.

“It’s great to see these students reach out and help others,” stated school board president Howard Adams.  “You’ve done a great job all year long and we are very proud of you.”

May Upper Chichester Board of Commissioners Meeting

Residents at the May 13^th Upper Chichester Board of Commissioners meeting were able to learn first hand about various changes taking place in Upper Chichester Township.

The engineer’s report revealed that the township will begin advertising for bids from companies interested in repairing Meetinghouse road, which is estimated to be a $30,000 project. The funds for the project would possibly come out of the PLGIT fund.

“It is not an emergency to begin repair on Meetinghouse road but I would like get authorization to begin advertising for bids,” stated township engineer Lisa Catania.

“We should receive some good bids,” added Catania.

In other news, 1^st ward Commissioner Joseph DiMarco announced at the meeting that trash fees will be refunded to senior citizens in the township.

“This refund will be opened to people who are also eligible for the Pennsylvania Property Tax Rebate Program,” explained DiMarco.

The program benefits eligible Pennsylvania residents age 65 and older; widows and widowers age 50 and older, and people with disabilities age 18 and older. The income eligibility level for the Property Tax Rebate Program is $35,000 a year, excluding half of Social Security income, and the maximum rebate is $650 for homeowners.

Applications for the trash fee refund must be made to the township for the calendar year for which an individual wants to be refunded for.

Another change being made to the township will have to do with the Free Library of Upper Chichester.

The library has approached the board of commissioners about changed the title of the library, according to 2^nd ward Commissioner Nicole Whitaker.

“The library actually would like to change their name to the Library of Chichester to include both the lower and upper areas,” stated Whitaker. “Since patrons from both use the library and.”

Whitaker also went on to say that the library would also like to take the word ‘free’ out of the title, since the library actually charge patrons for the rental of such items as DVDs.

Board president James Stewart replied that he was okay with eliminating the word ‘free’ from the title, but really could see no point in changing the title to just ‘Chichester”.

“Marcus Hook Library is called Marcus Hook and we also use their library,” replied Stewart. “So, why change the name from Upper Chichester to just Chichester?”

Chichester Juniors Prove to be Business Savvy

Three members of Chichester high school group Chichester Future Business Leaders of America were recognized at the school district board meeting on April 20th.

Eleventh graders Aseel Abdalla, Michael Pugliese and Thomas Campuzano all recived first place, at the FBLA state competition, in the Banking and Finacial systems event. The competition took place in Hershey, PA from April 11th to 14th.

Prior to the state competiton, the three students had particpated in the organization’s regional competition, where they placed first in the team event, which lallowed them to move on to the state competition.

During the state competiton, the three students competed by taking an objective test in the preliminary round which placed them in the top ten out of 28 regions.

As they moved into the final round, the Chichester students had to give a presentation in front of a panel of five judges on solving a given business problem. Chichester excelled and recieved first place for their presentation.

The group is a branch of the National Future Business Leaders of America- Pheta Pi Lambda organization, which is the largest student – run business related group in the country.

The goals of FBLA-PPL include aiming to help students to facilitate a transition from school to career, as well as to learn and practice efficient money management.

The organization holds competitions yearly, which topics ranging to cover technology concepts, website development, Accounting I, Management Decision Making, Public Speaking I, and Impromptu Speaking.

Now, because of their successful performance at the State level competition, Chichester FBLA -PPL has been to participate in the national competition at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennesse. The competition will take place from July 12th to the 18th.

The only dilema with the Chichester FBLA success is the issue of money. The cost to send the students to compete in Nashville is close to $6000, and the school is unable to provide funding.

“We are trying to fundraise money for the trip through selling candy at the school and contacting local businesses to see if anyone would like to donate any funds,” stated FBLA advisor Deborah Litchko.

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Holy Saviour Offering Free Legal Presentation to Seniors

The  Helping  Hands Ministry of Holy Saviour Parish wants to invite all seniors, caregivers, disabled regardless of age), and everyone who is interested in the changes in our Health Care Systems to an informative presentation on Elder Law. 

This free program will feature Elder Attorney Dana Breslin, Esq., and will focus on absolute need for a Will, a Living Will, a Durable Power of Attorney, Medicare, Medical Secondary Insurances, and Nursing Home Information. 

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to bring them and they will be answered at the session.

This event will be held on Monday, June 7, 2010, at 7:00 PM, at Holy Saviour Hall (108 East Ridge Road, Linwood).  Call 610-485-2520 to register.