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Welcome to our Winter 2024 newsletter!
In this issue, we're excited to share with you with some fantastic news about our Harmony community. Included, you'll learn about the incredible success story of a Harmony graduate who just landed her dream job at NPR, Harmony's important partnership with IU's Bridges program, and take a look at one of our favorite Harmony traditions, the Holiday Follies, which has been entertaining audiences and showcasing our students talents for 42 years! I hope you enjoy reading about what's happening inHarmony this winter! Steve "Roc" Bonchek Executive Director |
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Anisa Vietze reports for an NPR member station in Anchorage, Alaska. |
| 2018 Harmony Graduate Lands Dream Job at NPR |
Harmony Alumna Anisa Vietze (Class of 2018) has been listening to NPR’s RadioLab since she was about 13 years old, and this fall, she started working as an Assistant Producer for the podcast and public radio show.
“The show is super unique in its storytelling, because of the way they integrate sound design and music into stories. I mostly do things to support the work that producers and reporters are doing — cutting interviews down, producing reruns, and running our social media,” Vietze said. “Luckily, Radiolab is the most collaborative team I've ever worked on, so even though I am just an Assistant Producer, I've been so grateful that my opinions and ideas matter to everyone and I felt like I was a part of something as soon as I got here.”
Vietze's passion for journalism dates back to her time at Harmony. As a high school student at Harmony, she said she became confident that she wanted to work in long-form journalism as a career and even completed a documentary for her senior project.
After her time at Harmony, Vietze went on to study journalism at Oberlin College where she worked as a journalist and Editor-in-Chief for the student newspaper, The Oberlin Review. She also completed a program at the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies and went on to report for an NPR member station in Anchorage, Alaska. Vietze partially credits Harmony’s unconventional education approach to her success in achieving her goals, despite the challenges of starting a career in journalism.
"I think the unconventional-ness of Harmony, and the fantastic love and support of my family, is what made it possible for me to have positive experiences during that period of bouncing around," she said. "Harmony set me up to appreciate unconventional ways of being in the world and that my worth is more than just a job.” Click Here to Read More About Anisa |
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Harmony Holiday Follies Showcases Student Talents & Entertains Audiences |
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Harmony recently celebrated their 42nd Annual Holiday Follies, featuring performances and backstage work from students in the Early Childhood Program through High School Seniors! Each year, classes and individual students and groups work for weeks prior to this school-wide production. Performances range from musical numbers to dances, gymnastics, comedy, drama skits, and more!
This entertaining tradition not only features the talents of Harmony's students; it's also an annual fundraiser that supports Harmony's Scholarship Fund. This year, Harmony raised $10,000 through the support of generous sponsors, including: |
Check out the Then & Now photos from Holiday Follies performances that show how much things have changed and stayed the same over the years! |
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Students gain exposure to languages and culture through IU partnership
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| For over a decade, Harmony School and Indiana University (IU) have partnered through the after-school program, Bridges: Children, Language, World.
"The goal is to spark an interest in language learning, and specifically the learning of less-commonly taught languages and the culture associated with their speakers, among elementary school students and other young learners," according to Bridges Program Coordinator, Bill Rozycki.
The program supports the sending of volunteer instructors, who are generally studying the language, into local schools around Monroe County. Over the last two years, ten IU students have instructed at Harmony offering Chinese, Greek and Persian classes in an after-school setting once a week.
"Sparking an interest in a language (other than the commonly-taught languages Spanish, French, German, and Italian) brings a benefit to all involved," Rozycki said. While the Bridges program plans one semester at a time due to school and volunteer instructor schedules, Rozycki said he hopes that the program returns to Harmony in 2025. "As I supervise the teaching of Greek, Chinese, and Persian at Harmony, I am heartened to see the excitement as children communicate in a new language and learn about cultures that would not likely affect them were it not for Bridges," Rozycki said.
Click Here to Read More About the Bridges Partnership |
Students participate in Chinese Class (top left) and Persian Class (middle left). Below, IU volunteer instructors present certificates of completion to students and Program Coordinator Bill Rozycki presents certificates to the Persian Class Instructors.
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