Waterville (Maine) Senior High School Selected as 2023 NFHS Performing Arts School of Excellence

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has announced Waterville (Maine) Senior High School (WSHS) as its 2023 NFHS Performing Arts School of Excellence. With the addition of Waterville Senior, just eight high schools in the United States have now been recognized with the prestigious honor since its inception in 2016.

The NFHS Performing Arts School of Excellence is celebrated each year in October as part of National High School Activities Month, an initiative that serves to remind students, parents, coaches, administrators and others in communities across the country about the values and benefits of high school activity programs.

“On behalf of the Waterville Senior High School staff, we are honored to be named the 2023 NFHS Performing Arts School of Excellence,” said Dr. Brian Laramee, principal of WSHS. “This award is a testament to the dedication of our teachers and the creativity of our amazing students, past and present. Our students have harmonized passion with skill and brought the stage to life with their extraordinary performances. It is our hope that this honor inspires our students to reach even greater heights, while encouraging future WSHS students to strive for similar excellence.”

Led by Dr. James Weaver, NFHS Director of Performing Arts and Sports, a special presentation was held at WSHS on October 12, where Waterville Public Schools visual and performing arts department (VPA) chair Sue Barre, along with other members of the VPA department, received an award plaque to commemorate the outstanding achievements of their performing arts students and teachers.

“Presenting the prestigious Performing Arts School of Excellence Award to Waterville Senior High School is a true celebration of the remarkable talent, dedication and passion displayed by the students, teachers and administrators,” Weaver said. “It's a testament to their unwavering commitment to nurturing the arts and providing a platform for young performers to shine. This recognition underscores the vital role that the performing arts play in shaping well-rounded individuals and fostering creativity within our educational communities."

The passion and skill level Laramee alluded to are certainly evident in WSHS’ performing arts accolades from the Maine Principals Association (MPA), Maine Music Educators Association (MMEA) and other national festivals and competitions. But that same passion is even more apparent, perhaps even palpable, in the four dedicated, experienced teachers – Barre, Ciara Hargrove, Gayle Pellegrini and Colin Wheatley – who have cultivated it within the school’s band, orchestra, choir, speech and drama programs.

"Simply put, our performing arts play an integral role at Waterville Senior High School,” said Keith Mahoney, WSHS assistant principal. “The performing arts at WSHS exemplify all of our core values and place an emphasis on creating community within the classroom, school, and beyond our walls. The biggest role performing arts has had is enriching the educational experience for our students and contributing to the overall culture of our school."

Barre, who was the NFHS Outstanding Music Educator for Section 1 and the state of Maine in 2021, has led the WSHS bands to an impressive list of honors at WorldStrides Heritage Music Festivals in Boston, New York City and Washington, D.C.

Her concert band and jazz band each earned “gold” ratings at the 2018 and 2021 WorldStrides festivals in New York, with the 2018 results helping to propel Waterville to an overall “Sweepstakes Award” for most outstanding music department. Last spring, both bands returned from The Big Apple with “silver” scores and did the same following the 2013 festival in Washington, DC, where WSHS also received the “Spirit of DC” Award for exhibiting responsible and respectful behavior during the event.

The modern rock band, which was started in 2017 as a product of the “Maine Kids Rock!” grant program, also claimed a “silver” at the 2023 festival, and, subsequently, saw one of its members earn a place on the National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Eastern Division Rock Band. That student became the second of Barre’s pupils to draw recognition from NAfME, joining a Waterville senior who was named to the All-National Concert Band in 2017. In addition to her national honorees, Barre has consistently guided her musicians to all-district and all-state distinctions over the past 20 years and played a major role in Waterville’s selection as a GRAMMY Signature School in 2016. The three-time Waterville Board of Education award recipient has also served as NAfME Eastern Division Officer since 2017 and previously spent time as president of the MMEA from 2016 to 2018.

Under the direction of Hargrove and Wheatley, respectively, the WSHS choir and orchestra recorded “gold”-caliber performances that were equally as crucial in clinching the WorldStrides Sweepstakes Award in 2018, but both programs have also made their own meaningful contributions to elevating the school’s highly regarded arts department.

The choir achieved a second “gold” rating at the 2021 Heritage Music Festival in New York and also received the esteemed opportunity to perform commissioned work by Dr. Christian Giddings that same year. Meanwhile, this past school year was highlighted by a “silver” at the 2023 New York WorldStrides festival, along with a nomination to be guest performers for the Youth Art Month celebration at the Paul J. Schupf Art Center in Waterville.

Hargrove also administers WSHS’ “select choir” for the school’s most talented choral students, and first led her ensemble to a high-water mark in 2014 when it collected a “gold” rating at the MMEA State Jazz Festival. From there, Waterville’s select choir received silver ratings at both the 2018 MMEA District 4 Jazz Festival and the 2019 State Jazz Festival, before coming back with three consecutive “gold” performances at the 2021 WorldStrides New York Heritage Music Festival, the 2022 MMEA District 4 Jazz Festival and the 2023 New York WorldStrides festival.

Hargrove is currently the Maine Jazz All State SATB Choir Manager and operated as the Kennebec Valley Music Educators Association president from 2014 to 2016 and the MMEA District 4 Treasurer from 2012 to 2017.

The 2022-23 school year was a banner year for the orchestra under Wheatley, as the WSHS Faculty Renaissance Award winner led his students to a “gold” rating at the WorldStrides festival and accepted an invitation for them to perform at the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association Common Ground Fair. To top it off, the orchestra hosted guest performances and workshops by musical artists Warp Trio, Palaver Strings and Kinan Azmeh, and had more students accepted to the Maine All-State Orchestra than any other public school in the state for the second year in a row.

Wheatley, who also guided the WSHS orchestra to an “excellent” rating at the 2015 WorldStrides festival in New York, is a Tri-M National Honor Society advisor and served as the District 2 Honors Orchestra Festival Conductor in 2022.

Pellegrini was WSHS’ drama director from 2000 to 2022 and successfully led 44 productions during that span – one fall musical and one one-act play each year – connecting hundreds of students to an immersive high school theatre experience. On the competitive side, the WSHS speech and theatre teams have left their mark at the state level, winning a total of six MPA Regional One Act Play Division A competitions under Pellegrini’s leadership – including three in a row from 2015 to 2017 – while recording runner-up finishes in 2002, 2003, 2008 and 2014.

This year’s NFHS Performing Arts School of Excellence award is intended to celebrate all the work Waterville Senior High School has done to build highly decorated programs within an exemplary performing arts culture. However, as true leaders in the state of Maine, the focus of the school’s administrators, teachers and students remains fixed on what’s next.

"Our school and community are undergoing a transformative initiative to nurture and champion visual and performing arts,” Laramee said. “Collaborating with strong community partners like Colby Arts, Waterville Creates and the Waterville Opera House, the performing arts at WSHS not only celebrate individuality but also provide a platform where voices resonate and creativity soars. This collaborative effort aims to inspire a lifelong passion for the arts among our students and the broader community. The honor of being named the 2023 NFHS Performing Arts School of Excellence not only acknowledges our school’s past successes but also fuels our ongoing commitment to continued growth and excellence within the arts."

The seven past recipients of the NFHS Performing Arts School of Excellence award include:

2022 – West Anchorage High School, Anchorage, Alaska

2021 – Salem Hills High School, Salem, Utah

2020 – Cleveland High School, Portland, Oregon

2019 – Oak Grove High School, Hattiesburg, Mississippi

2018 – Washburn Rural High School, Topeka, Kansas

2017 – Friendswood High School, Friendswood, Texas

2016 – Denver School of the Arts, Denver, Colorado