School News, February 9, Sag Harbor & East Hampton Town

Seventeen Sag Harbor School District student-musicians were selected to represent the district in this year’s Hampton Music Educators Association Music Festival. The event brings together educators and students from all around the East End of Long Island for the opportunity to practice and challenge a shared passion for musical performance.

HMEA selects students from East End districts each year from recommendations by their teachers. Lizzie Hallock, Ashley Buestan Perez, Chloe Lucyz, Dylan Hepburn, Adam Drohan, and Chad Federico were the Pierson High School students who were selected. Evie Berkoski, Gabby Hugo, Shoshana Sobey, Emily Drohan and Carmen McCulley represented Pierson Middle School alongside Olivia Quinn, Savannah Romano, Mia Milazzo, Vivienne Crutchfield, Georgie Finelli and Jack Fuer.

HMEA was created to provide high quality musical performance opportunities to the students on the East End of Long Island, according to the organization. The students and educators hail from Amagansett, Center Moriches, Mattituck-Cutchogue, Montauk, Riverhead, Sag Harbor and Shelter Island school districts just to name a few.

“This event exposes the children to more challenging music, a room full of dedicated musicians, larger ensembles, other teaching styles and new repertoire,” said Deanna Locascio, music coordinator for the Sag Harbor District and Sag Harbor Elementary music teacher. “The students learn to work hard, focus and they feel the reward at the end when the concert is phenomenal!”

This year, Suzanne Nicoletti, Pierson MS/HS chorus teacher, William Fujita, Pierson MS/HS orchestra teacher, and Austin Remson, Pierson MS/HS band teacher all helped prepare the students. “These students are not only talented, but they are also dedicated. All the selected students gathered and participated in three lengthy rehearsals, and then put on a concert on the final weekend. We are so proud of our Pierson students who were selected to represent our school,” said Locascio.

After several rehearsals, learning lines and choreography, the Performing Arts Club at Pierson Middle School took to the stage to showcase their talents and for three consecutive nights performed “Beauty and the Beast Jr.” for the Sag Harbor community.

“Audiences loved the show, and at the end of the process, all the students felt really great about what they had accomplished,” explained Bethany Dellapolla, Pierson middle and high school musical director.

In the Performing Arts Club, students who share a passion for theater learned self-expression, growth and identity. Within the scripts and storylines of the plays discussed, students look beneath the surface level to explore larger concepts and themes.

“I think one of my favorite moments was when a student performer said ‘Wow, you think this show/scene is about one thing, and then you look underneath, and there’s really so much more going on.’ I felt like I was really doing my job in that moment,” said Dellapolla.

For “Beauty and the Beast Jr.,” students had to work together and show each other support as they performed the story of how one young girl chose not to judge a book, or a beast, by its cover. Belle, played by seventh grade student Shoshana Sobey, and the Beast, played by Asher Friedman in eighth grade, performed each scene with their supporting cast as they escaped the antagonist, Gaston, played by eighth-grader Lucas Martin.

With help from Charlie Freij, the producer and costume designer; Michael Drozd, the musical director; and Paul Goerz, the set designer, the show was able to come to life. The Pierson Middle School Performing Arts Club would also like to thank the students, parents and teachers who helped along the way.

“I’m so proud of the entire cast and crew! ‘Beauty and the Beast’ is a literal ‘beast’ of a show, and they did such a wonderful job really communicating and understanding the story. They grew so much as performers and designers! The performances were truly fantastic and reflective of everyone’s hard work. I’m excited for next year,” said Dellapolla.

The Sag Harbor Elementary prekindergarten will hold an orientation program on Wednesday, March 1, at 6:30 p.m. in the Sage Hall Gymnasium at the Sag Harbor Learning Center. Parents are invited to learn about the program, tour the school and meet its faculty.

For details, got to sagharborschools.org.

Jaye deGroof of East Hampton was named to the University of Rhode Island dean’s list for the fall 2022 semester, as did Logan Gurney, also from East Hampton, and Alexa Pariz, of Sag Harbor.