Opera company offers students crash course
BY COURTNEY GAILLARD
THE CHRONICLE
Students from Diggs Visual
and Performing Arts Elementary
School are spending this week
with performers from Piedmont
Opera in the Oiggs Summer
Family Arts Camp. Furniture
Brands International and Win
ston-Salem/Forsyth County
Schools are sponsoring the
weeklong'-arts camp.
Professional artists and musi
cians are spending the week
working with nearly 30 children
in grades K-5 in a multidiscipline
arts camp that allows them to
take part in creating, directing,
designing and performing an
opera. The camp will conclude
with a scaled-down performance
of Gilbert and Sullivan's "The
Mikado" tomorrow afternoon.
The camp is also open to stu
dents' parents, who are invited to
9 I t t> n H
several
afternoon
sessions.
Parents
get the
chance to
partici
pate in
the opera
program
by work
ing as
singers.
directors ana accompanists along
with their children.
"When the parents experi
ence (the camp) with other par
ents. they have a better under
standing of what we're asking
their kids to do," stud Carol
Eickmeyer. assistant principal at
e ^
Diggs Elementary.
Several teachers on the Diggs
staff are assisting with the camp
activities. Diggs has just com
pleted its first year operating as
an arts magnet school in a tradi
tional calendar schedule.
Steve LaCosse, Richard
Heard. Rhonda Overman and
Mary Anne Bills are professional
musicians from Piedmont Opera
spending the week introducing
the world of opera to the young
sters.
Overman recently returned
from a 15- year stint in Europe,
where she has been perfecting
her soprano voice.
"We are tickled to have the
chance to put Piedmont Opera
together with Diggs. We have
been looking for an opportunity
to get back into outreach and
education, and this presented
itself as the idea for opportunity,"
said Overman, who explained
that Piedmont Opera has worked
with schools in the past in similar
programs.
LaCosse, director of produc
tion and touring for the Fletcher
Opera Institute of the N.C.
School of the Arts, said 'The
Mikado" was chosen for the stu
dents to learn about and perform
because Piedmont Opera will
perform the Japanese opera in its
entirety next spring and students
from Diggs will attend.
LaCos.se, who heads Pied
mont Opera's outreach program
with Diggs, said he took several
songs from the opera for the
children to learn - songs that
include the basic premise of the
storyline.
The Mikado" tells the story
of love between four characters
whose relationships intertwine
throughout the opera. The story
is filled with unrequited love,
execution, deception and nup
tials.
"I took some of the fun tunes
and condensed it down to about (
20 minutes' worth of music...so
that they have a very good famil
iarity with the piece, so when
they go to see if next spring
they'll know the plot and songs,"
LaC'osse said.
Eickmeyer said she hopes the
arts camp can be offered to stu
dents und their parents annually
and she would like to expand the
camp to last for several weeks to
include more performing arts
professionals from around the
area.
Eickmeyer
??5 i I? ? JL ^ ,Wi ?
Photos by Courtney Gail lard
Steve LaCosse gives the students a pep talk on the first day of training for the opera.
These students will put on a version of the opera "The Mikado" at Diggs Elementary.
Hughes
from page AI
about the milestone has helped
her grasp the fact that she has
been on the air at WFMY for 30
; years. Her achievements are
? especially impressive consider
ing that Hughes never set out to
be in the television news busi
ness.
"I wanted to be an actress. I
wanted to be on stage," said
Hughes, who was born in
Durham but moved to Greens
boro when she was 5.
After graduating with a
; degree in English from N.C.
A&T State University in 1969,
Hughes searched, in vain, for a
teaching position. She went to
WFMY one day hoping that she
. could use her writing skills to
compose news scripts.
; The station manager at the
? time told Hughes the station did
not need writers but did need
on-air reporters. The rest is his
tory.
Hughes said doing the news
) is sort of like fulfilling her act
ing dreams.
"Being in front of the cam
era is much like being on
stage," she said. "I just can't
see the people watching me."
And many have watched
Hughes. She moved swiftly up
the ranks at the station, going
from general assignment
reporter to hosting her own talk
show, "Sandra and Friends."
within a few years. On the
show, Hughes hobnobbed with
celebrities and shone a spot
light on local trends and issues.
The debut of "Sandra and
Friends" in the early '70s gave
Hughes the distinction of being
the first African-American
woman in the Piedmont to host
her own talk show. It was a
milestone that not everyone
applauded.
"When I started hosting the
talk show, there were several
people in the community that
were unhappy to see a woman
of color on the air." Hughes
recalled.
Several times during the
live taping of her show, the sta
tion had to be evacuated
because of bomb threats. Hugh
es admits to being a little scared
during those days, but she said
she never thought of giving in
to the hatred by ending the
show.
"1 would have never left."
she said.
Hughes broke more.ground
in 1978 when she became the
first black woman in the South
east to co-host "PM Maga
zine." The popular news maga
zine show took Hughes around
the world, giving her experi
ences that she says she will
never forget.
Deborah Hooper. WFMY's
current general manager,
remembers Hughes from her
early talk-show days.
"Before I began my own
career with WFMY News 2. 1
felt like 1 knew Sandra from
watching her on 'Sandra and
Friends' as well as PM Maga
zine.'" Hooper said.1 "We're so
happy to be celebrating this
anniversary with Sandra and
everyone in the Piedmont who
has trusted her through the
years."
After her run on "PM Mag
azine." Hughes did everything
from host the station s popular
"Good Morning Show" to serv
ing as the station's community
relations manager.
Her journalistic vigor
helped her keep her trophy case
well-stocked. She is the first
black woman in the Piedmont
to receive the Edward R. Mur
row Award, which is given by
the Radio-Television News
Directors Association and is
considered by many to be the
most coveted prize in the
broadcasting industry. Hughes
has also picked up awards from
the Associated Press and Gan
nett Broadcasting, which owns
WFMY.
Hughes found time to start
the station's first program to
help minority students land
summer internships. The pro
gram encouraged minority stu
dents not only to consider
careers as on-air personalities
but also as behind-the-scenes
players.
"As I looked around the
(WFMY) building. 1 did not see
minorities in accounting and
engineering." Hughes said,
recounting how the program
developed.
These days, Hughes brings
her status as the area's most
trusted and longest-running tel
evision personality to WFMY's
5 p.m.. 6 p.m. and 11 p.m.
newscasts.
Away from the station
Hughes lends her name to sev
eral area causes. She is also an
active member of several
organisations, including Delta
Sigma Theta Sorority and the
Junior League of Greensboro.
Hughes is married to Larry
Hughes. They have two adult
children. "Allan and Tiffany,
who recently gave the Hughe
ses their first grandchild.
"She is my hobby." Hughes
said of the 7-month-old baby.
Although offers from sta
tions in other cities have been
thrown her way, Hughes says
she stuck with WFMY because
of the support and sense of
family she has always felt
there. She is also hopelessly in
love with Greensboro, where
many of her family and her
husband's family live.
Hughes said she is not
ready to retire, yet she won't
confirm if she is trying to break
the record of Lee Kinnard. who
worked with Hughes on many
projects throughout the years
and retired from the station a
few years ago after 43 years on
the air. Hughes said she isn't
looking that far ahead. She said
she will continue to take her
career one step at a time.
"I usually take it one show
at a time and one week at a
time." she said.
For a woman who had
dreams of Broadway 30 years
ago. Hughes says today that she
doesn't know how to do any
thing else but be a reporter and
anchor. Although her decades
long journey has been marked
by challenges and tears that
have "stretched fyer as a per
son." Hughes said she would
not trade one minute of it for a
chance as an actress or for any
other profession.
"When I look back, i have
had a wonderful time in this
career. It has been more than I
thought it could be," she said.
"I have been to wonderful
places and met wonderful peo
ple."
"Celebrating Sandra," the
half-hour special chronicling
her career, will air Wednesday
at 5:30 p.m. on WFMY. The
special will feature her family,
former classmates as well as
her former and current co
workers, such as Lee Kinnard.
Viewers can submit their
favorite Sandra Hughes memo
ries on the station's Web site at
www.wfmy.com
Photo courtesy of WFMY
Sandra Hughes began hosting her own talk show, "Sandra
and Friendsnot long after graduating from N.C. A&T.
Me wart
from page AI
After blood samples were taken
from Mossville, a predominantly
black community in Lake
Charles, studies showed that the
dioxin levels in their blood were
substantially high. Lake Charles
is home to the Calcasieu Estuary
- a dioxin toxic hot spot.
Residents from many of these
African-American communities
have vocalized concern about
their contaminated neighbor
hoods and have filed lawsuits
against some of the PVC manu
facturers. A grand jury is review
ing the suit of one community
against a Dow Chemical plant
located just two miles down the
road from a historically black
area that was settled by former
slaves. The community claims.
the presence of the vinyl plant
has contaminated their ground
water that they use for drinking
purposes.
Finaldi claims that Louisiana
was aware of these toxic hot
spots for as long as five years and
never informed the residents of
their exposure to contaminated
materials in their own back
yards.
"Some of these (African
American) communities have
elected to demand that they be
moved. Some communities were
moved w hether they wanted to or
not when the chemical compa
nies bought everybody out and
demolished these towns founded
by former slaves." Finaldi said.
Susan Dennis, a spokesper
son with the corporate affairs
division of Kmart said. "When
ever possible Kmart uses plastics
Ihut do
not con
tain PVC.
However.
Kmart
will con
tinue to
use pack
aging
which
contains
PVC
whenever
an equal
or better alternative is not avail
able. So, if there is an alternative
available that is equal to (PVC)
and provides the same benefits,
certainly we would choose that
option."
Alternative agents that can be
used in place of PVC are PET or
PP (Polyethylene Teraphthalate
or Poly Propylene), both of
which are more environmentally
sound in their production.
McLeod explained that part of
the problem with PVC is that
because the triangular recycling
symbol appears on many vinyl
products, people assume that it
can be recycled. And that is not
(he case.
McLeod suggests that con
sumers get in the hahit of turning
plastic and vinyl products upside
down to look for the triangular
recycling symbol with a number
in the center of it. If the number 3
appears within the triangle, that
indicates it is made with PVC. If
products are unmarked, and
many are. consumers should call
manufacturers to inquire about
the contents.
"If (Martha Stewart) can
agree to sit down and talk with
us. we're more than happy to
work something out and work on
alternatives to using PVC." said
David Mickey with the Triad
Environmental Agency.
Since March, more than
I2.(XX) e-mails and faxes have
been sent to Stewart's headquar
ters in New York City. Environ
mental groups say they have yet
to receive a response from the
Stewart camp on the PVC issue.
Mickey says they will continue
to contact her and protest the
usage of PVC in her products
until Stewart agrees to phase out
the toxic material.
Many companies such as
Nike. General Motors. IKEA and
the Body Shop have begun to
discontinue the use of PVC in
their products and Mickey hopes
that Stewart will do a "good
thing" and follow suit in the near
future.
Mickey
Quality Education Schools
Family Day
Sponsored by
Quality Education Institute. Quality Education Academy and Coca-Cola
"We Raise The Quality Of Life Of Everyone We Touch"
Saturday, July 20,2002
Quality Education Schools, 4381 Carver School Rd.
10 a.m. - 2 p.m.
Sign up and register for the following:
? The Mighty Seraph ims hoys' and girls' basketball, baseball, and
volleyball teams
? Seraphim Winds Band
<
? High Achiever's Club
? Reading Club
? Quality Schools Chorus
? Cheerleaders
jr l \ ?
I 4
'9hty Se^
?
' Chess Club
'Adele Thompson
Drama Group
< Quality Schools
Dance Ensemble
' Boy & Girl Scouts
For more information call (336) 744-7138