[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 44 (Monday, March 22, 2010)]
[House]
[Pages H2191-H2192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 CONGRATULATING THE SAIPAN SOUTHERN HIGH SCHOOL MANTA RAY CONCERT BAND

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from the Northern Mariana Islands (Mr. Sablan) is recognized 
for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SABLAN. Mr. Speaker, when we open our hearts to our young 
people--give generously our support and encouragement--those young 
people consistently exceed our expectation.
  Let me tell you of the story of a dedicated group of students from a 
tiny island in the western Pacific Ocean, and the teachers who 
supported and encouraged them. Because on April 20, those students, the 
Saipan Southern High School Manta Ray Concert Band, exceeding any 
reasonable expectation, will be performing at one of America's premier 
musical venues: Carnegie Hall in New York City.
  Saipan Southern High School opened just a few years ago, in 2002. 
Southern was a beautiful new facility, but it needed to be filled with 
life and with heart. The new students and new teachers quickly adopted 
the motto ``un eskuela, un korason''--one school, one heart--and began 
to bring their school to life.
  One of the new teachers was William DeWitt. Mr. DeWitt is a wonderful 
musician himself and his new Saipan Southern music and band students 
were enthusiastic to learn. But few had any musical training. Yet 
within a few months of opening, Saipan Southern enjoyed the first 
performance of its very own band, the Manta Ray Concert Band, and 
quickly ``un eskuela, un korason'' became more than just a motto 
because the musical rhythms of the Manta Rays became the heartbeat of 
Saipan Southern.
  The band performed at pep rallies, sports competitions, for the PTA, 
at graduation. It seemed whenever Saipan Southern had an event, the 
beat of the Manta Rays provided the musical backdrop. By 2005, the 
Manta Ray Concert Band had reached a level of proficiency that allowed 
them to take on the complex Latin rhythms and jazzy dissonances of West 
Side Story for a production at Saipan Southern.
  And their reach extended beyond their school, as they began 
performing--and entertaining--for the annual Taste of the Marianas 
festival, Northern Marianas College Charter Day, the Western Pacific 
Judicial Council Conference, and many other community events. How that 
heartbeat grew stronger.
  In 2008 and again in 2009, the Manta Ray Concert Band captured First 
Place Gold awards at the Tumon Bay International Music Festival in 
Guam. Student members of the Manta Ray Concert Band joined the Official 
Youth Orchestra at the 2008 Summer Olympics and performed in Beijing, 
China.
  Today, the Saipan Southern High School band program has grown to more 
than 150 aspiring student musicians. The Manta Ray Concert Band has 
studied under guest conductors from Guam and Japan. They have played 
for dramatic productions of My Fair Lady, A Winter's Tale, and It's a 
Wonderful Life. They host their own concerts and perform at others as 
well. The Manta Ray Concert Band typically presents more than 20 
performances annually.
  Throughout their exemplary rise, these young musicians and their 
teachers have struggled with lack of finances, with lack of 
instruments, with the difficulties of travel for a band of students of 
various ethnicities and citizenship. But they have not lost heart. Nor 
have they forgotten that music can fill the hearts of others. When a 
security guard was brutally murdered at a sister school, the Manta Rays 
played to raise funds for the grieving family. After a shooting rampage 
left four dead on the island of Saipan, the Manta Rays raised spirits 
and funds for those in mourning.
  The Manta Ray Concert Band certainly deserves recognition. But they 
won their most recent distinction solely by virtue of the quality of 
their music. Still under the dedicated direction of William DeWitt, 
they auditioned for the right to play at this year's New York 
International Music Festival at Carnegie Hall. And on April 20, with 
some of the most accomplished high school and college bands, the Manta 
Rays will fill the storied venue with their heartbeat.
  As usual, they will not be playing for themselves but for others. The 
band is dedicating its Carnegie performance to Peter Le'au, the first 
principal of Saipan Southern High School, who, as the Manta Rays' 
program notes, ``is courageously fighting to recover from a recent 
illness.''
  Mr. Speaker, I hereby submit this tribute to the Saipan Southern High 
School Manta Ray Concert Band, along with individual names of each band 
member performing at Carnegie Hall as well as of their esteemed band 
director and school principal, for publication in the Congressional 
Record. They are:

       Eun Joung Ahn, tenor saxophone
       Ken Alvarado, trumpet
       Naomi Cabrera, percussion
       Scott Cabrera, trumpet
       James Camacho, clarinet
       Crista Ching, trombone
       Joe Ray Dela Cruz, tuba
       Anna Rose Deleon Guerrero, percussion/logistician
       Mereylen Denora, trumpet
       Pedro Duenias, alto saxophone
       Kevin Fejeran, baritone
       Rodolfo Guiao, Jr., baritone saxophone
       Jun Yeop Han, tenor saxophone
       Hyun Rock Jang, horn
       Joseph Jang, percussion
       Chan Young Kang, percussion
       Haneul Kim, flute
       II Ho (Ted) Kim, trombone
       Shin Hye Kwon, flute
       John Craig Lamberto, clarinet
       Bo Mi Lee, flute
       Ji Won (Rebekah) Lee, flute

[[Page H2192]]

       Trini Macduff, flute
       Leagine Mendiola, clarinet
       Genevieve Ngiraibuuch, clarinet
       Fumi Nimura, clarinet
       Momoko Nishikido, trumpet
       Maria-Theszaray Omar, flute
       David Paek, trombone
       Albert Palacios, alto saxophone
       Jaynine Parico, percussion
       John Park, clarinet
       Joshua Roberto, trumpet
       Joshua Sablan, horn
       Roseanna Sablan, percussion
       Elejohn Solomon, clarinet
       Min Jung Song, clarinet
       So Jung Song, alto saxophone
       Jonelie Torres, percussion
       Donovan Tudela, bass clarinet
       Krysthian Villanueva, alto saxophone
       William DeWitt, Teacher
       Craig Garrison, School Principal

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