[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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