GILROY
– The voices of hundreds of Gilroy elementary school students
raised in song was music to Dale Connell’s ears Wednesday.
GILROY – The voices of hundreds of Gilroy elementary school students raised in song was music to Dale Connell’s ears Wednesday.
Students in pre-kindergarten through third grade who are enrolled in summer school performed their end-of-summer choir concert at Antonio Del Buono twice yesterday, made possible by the latest donation from the Connell family to the school district.
“This is a gift to help embellish and support the instructional program,” said Debra Aboytes, early childhood administrator for Gilroy Unified School District. “It’s my understanding that we would not be able to offer the music program without this donation.”
Connell, who in the early ’50s was a GUSD trustee, and his family have regularly donated hundreds or even thousands of dollars in recent years to open students’ eyes and minds to music.
Having watched the students’ concert amid a crowd of beaming parents, Connell pronounced the performance “wonderful.”
“It’s a known fact that kids that have some training in music … start to get better grades,” said Connell, 90. “Because music, you can’t do it alone, but to get harmony, you have to combine yourself with somebody else. It’s really cooperation and you just see the shine on the kids’ faces when they see how much better something sounds.”
The students who are enrolled in summer school are below grade level, taking remedial classes to prepare them for the challenge of next school year. Under the direction of music instructor Gretchen Vandenberg, the students built a repertoire over the six-week summer school program that includes patriotic favorite “Grand Ole Flag,” along with a song involving simple math and “Apples and bananas,” in which students practice different vowel sounds.
“When you see all the work that those teachers go through and how the kids enjoy it, this is just the best day of their life,” Connell said. “It’s a wonderful thing.”
Connell and wife Ruth formed the Connell Family Music Fund in 1997, which has supported district music programs ever since. The 57-year Gilroy resident prefers to work behind the scenes.
“We don’t do it to get our name in the paper,” he said. “We’ve got to help these kids: That’s he beginning of anything. They’re not part of the future, they are the future.”
Six of Connell’s nine great-grandchildren are currently enrolled in GUSD schools, from second grade on up. His four grandchildren and son also attended Gilroy’s public schools.
