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A Program for Teens
Program Director’s Memo
15 April 2025
Hello to each of you organ lovers! Here is a recap of the 2024 SOE season.
We finished the 2024 season last June with two recitals: the Kent County group recital was held on the 9th of July at Mayflower Congregational Church, and the Holland group recital was held on the 27th of June at First Reformed Church in Holland. We had six students in the Grand Rapids group and four in the Holland group, bringing the total number of students for the program, from its beginning 11 years ago, to 69. A great hand of applause to our Holland instructors for their recruiting work, and for the Holland AGO chapter for managing the entire program. Also, a special thanks to the West Michigan Home School Fine Arts program for their recruiting help once again.
We are now working on the 2025 programs in each area. We plan to do more outreach and advertising, to spread the concept to AGO chapters and other music groups, specifically piano teachers. We are very pleased that the same instructors will teach for the 2025 season. Elizabeth West will function as the Program Manager for the Holland/Zeeland area while I (Bob) will continue to serve as the Program Manager for the Grand Rapids, Kent County area.
Here are a few pictures of the June 2024 class times.
First, the Holland Students and Instructors at First Reformed Church
And the Grand Rapids Group, at Mayflower Congregational Church
As part of the class experience, the Holland students enjoyed a tour of the several organs at Hope College, and time to perform on them. The Grand Rapids students toured St Andrews Cathedral in Grand Rapids and experienced the three organs there. Many thanks to Matthew Jakubisin for the tour. Matthew has been one of our instructors in previous years and is presently the Dean of the GR chapter of AGO. Mathew is seated at the console below.
In the last three years we’ve developed a scholarship program as a continuation of the June classes. This past year we’ve had four student scholarships, beginning in August 2024 and ending in June of 2025 when the new classes start. This part of the SOE program has provided a good opportunity for gifted students to really get to know the organ with more advanced instruction, and to develop confidence in their own abilities. One student in the Holland area has been working with Dr. Elizabeth West, Hope College staff and newly appointed Organist and Minister of Music at First Reformed Church in Holland; congratulations Elizabeth! Two students in the Kent County area have been studying with Jonathan Bading, Organist and Music Director at Sacred Heart RC Parish in Grand Rapids. Dr. Julia Brown, at Mayflower Congregational Church in Grand Rapids has the fourth student. Each of these students had performed amazingly well in the June classes and are anxious to continue learning.
For information, our scholarship program is managed separately from the SOE June classes and is funded from separate donations. We’ve been blessed by generous contributions from several individuals in supporting this. We are working to fund this coming fourth year of scholarships and beyond!
For those with access to The American Organist magazine, see the article on Page 70 of the Sept 2023 edition, “Recruiting for the 99 Percent”. Dr. Wayne Earnest addresses the problem of where and how to find new organists, and how to get them involved. He has become a good friend of the SOE program, and we hope to try out a few of his ideas as we seek to move the SOE program forward.
See also our (SOE) article in the January 2025 TAO “From Piano to the Organ”.
So, keep watching! We believe we will have another year of continued growth.
SOEGR.ORG
Bob Houskamp, Program Manager Grand Rapids area
Dr. Elizabeth West, Program Manager Holland/Zeeland area