December 13, 2023 Breakfast Meeting Notes

 

Guests today were Jesse Bartlett and Erica LaBella.

 

Tony trivia: It’s more fun to give than to receive edition. 

 

50/50 was won by Russ.

Ben won the chance to draw for the ace of spades but drew the queen instead. The game continues.

 

Co-president Mike was home with COVID. We wish him a speedy recovery.

 

Announcements:  Thanks to all who participated in the Pemi Youth Christmas caroling last Friday. Mike reminded us all that there is a district zoom meeting on Jan 9, at 7 pm. A link will follow. There will be a board meeting this Friday.

 

Alicia presented our speaker, Jesse Bartlett. She owns the candy shop in Campton who was a member of RYLA and did a Rotary Youth Exchange in Ecuador in 2005-2006. She is a founder of Fiddlehead Fields Music Group. Both of these activities have had a huge impact on her life.

 

First she spoke of her exchange student trip. The host family experience was very enriching. She attended a private school, William Shakespeare High School. She had studied Spanish at high school in the USA but her Spanish improved markedly as a result of the experience. She also got to meet other exchange students from all over the world and make lifelong friendships. Service was also encouraged, as this was a Rotary program. She was excused from English class at the high school and so she would go next door to a public school and teach English there. For most of the children in the public school, education stopped at elementary school. She started a fund to help these kids get through high school.

 

Next she discussed Fiddlehead Field. This is a free, year-round after-school music program for children ages 4-17. It was started 4 years ago and is modeled after the el Sistema program of Venezuela. They meet at the Dole Mill, in Campton. The mission of Fiddlehead Fields is to promote the healthy growth and community level of children through the study, a total of 6 hours of instruction per week. The program helps to build healthier communities by investing in the positive level of children through music. Jesse herself plays violin but children play a variety of instruments, all donated. The program is completely grassroots and gets no funding. Volunteers give 6-20 hours per week to these kids.

 

Goals of this program, like any el Sistema program, are as follows:

1. Social goals: Students try to become citizen artists and perform in community every single month.
2. Inclusiveness: There are no auditions and no cost barrier to participation.
3. Learning in ensemble: The program aims to be the primary vehicle for music learning and social development in the group.
4. Intensiveness: There is year round engagement and students make a multiple year commitment.
5. Mentoring and peer learning: Peer to peer instruction not only helps young children learning a skill but increases the satisfaction of older students doing the mentoring, leading to increased student retention.
6. Learning environment: The environment is a safe, positive, joyful, hardworking, high aspiring home base; for the student so that they can enjoy mutual experiences in new settings. 

 

 

 

Fiddlehead Fields has what they call a 4th year program. This is for high school students, to focus on character development, leadership, goal-setting for post-graduation and applying the concept of citizen artistry in our communities. The students do future authoring (proactive steps for the future); a citizen artist project (they will hold panels for community leaders and nonprofits (on Jan 9 and 18th) to discuss the needs of the community and address projects to those needs); mentorship (each student is paired with an adult in community and meets with his or her mentor once a month); public speaking (they rely ontable topics, and ideas from Toastmasters, with the goal of ultimately speaking at the state house); and civic engagement (they will read town annual reports and attend a town meeting). Finally, they will do an international trip to Sweden to perform side by side with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. 

 

At the end of the program, Jesse played a selection of music from their performance at Light Up Thornton. Those who wish to hear more of their work can go to YouTube. The actual performance is linked below:

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qzoeXkQdcIU

 

Fiddlehead Fields is not a 501(c)3, so they run donations like a schedule C. The NH Music Festival used to be a sponsor, which allowed donations to be tax deductible and also allowed them to apply for grants. The Music Festival is no longer a sponsor so they are looking for a group through which to run donations (Rotary?). 

 

Happy dollars were shared by Lora, Tony, Mo, and Denise.

 

Denise noted that next week we will pass the hat for Tom’s extra holiday tip.

 

Eric Co-op will have a couple of openings on their board and they would love to have a Rotarian on the board.

 

Last meeting of month is for our scholarship students to come and speak. 

 

Respectfully submitted, 

 

Lora Miller, secetary