About the Highline Music4Life Chapter
Highline Public Schools serves more than 18,000 students in 33 schools in a community that is rich in cultural and ethnic diversity. Highline Music4Life™ provides musical instruments to fifth and sixth graders who qualify for free and reduced-priced meals. In special circumstances, we can provide instruments to older children, as well. Highline Music4Life has also provided violins, violas, guitars, and ukuleles to support new string instrument programs at the middle school level.
Our goal is to enable as many young people as possible to take advantage of instrumental music opportunities.
“We know that there are students interested in instrumental music who don’t have the resources to acquire an instrument,” says Stefan Nelson, Cultural Arts Specialist for Highline Public Schools. “As a matter of equity, we aim to increase the availability of instruments to all of our students, especially for our schools in high poverty areas. With enough new or used instruments, we can increase elementary instrumental music participation significantly.”
Highline helped us get our Link Up program with the Seattle Symphony Orchestra started several years ago. Music4Life buys recorders (the little flute-like instrument that sticks straight out of the mouth) for third- and fourth-graders. The kids take a couple months to learn their recorders and then are invited in to Benaroya Hall to play them with the Seattle Symphony! What a memory. Everett has now joined this program and several other Music4Life school districts are considering it, as well.
Read the PDF of the endorsement from Superintendent Duran by clicking here.
Ivan Duran, Ed.D, Superintendent
Highline Public Schools
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