Young Students Deliver Boffo Performance In San Manuel

  It seemed pretty much impossible a few short months ago that a group of young students in the Tri-Community could pull together a band concert in the San Manuel School District Auditorium before the end of the school year. After all, most of the 30+ members had never played their instruments individually much less collectively before the new band program began in  the fall. 
  But skeptics (Kaz and I admit to being among them) failed to reckon with the talent, professionalism, and determination of Lorena Candelaria.  We know Lorena and her familly from church, Zumba, and the Oracle Community Center but had never been witness to her consumate skills in building a musical program from scratch with young people in a few short monnths.   In that regard the concert last night was revelatory!

  There are so many back stories to this accomplishment that I can't begin to detail them here.  There's the role of the Oracle Piano Society and the brilliant leadership of Dr. Stephen Cook and OPS board leader Rachel Opinsky (pictured above with Dr. Cook, Lorena, and congratulatory flower deliverer Kaz).  There's the vital role of music in educating the young recognized by Mammoth-San Manuel school leaders.  And there's Lorena's personal history teaching, raising a family and overcoming life threatening health challenges.
  (That's just for starters.) 
  "Amazing" is an overused word these days but here its richly deserved.  The band concert last evening in San Manuel was truly amazing.