Englewood Idol Show Debuts Its Sixth Season Benefiting Dr. John Grieco Scholarship Fund
WHEN: Friday January 7, 2011, at 7:30 PMWHERE: bergenPAC, 30 North Van Brunt Street, Englewood
TICKETS: advance tickets are $7 for students and $10 for adults; tickets at the door will be $10 for students and $15 for adults
Tickets to Englewood Idol can be purchased in the main offices of Dwight Morrow High School and Academies@Englewood
American Idol watch out! Young stars from Englewood will dazzle the stage with their musical talents at the 6th Annual Englewood Idol, a fundraising event for the Dr. John Grieco Scholarship Fund.
Englewood Idol brings together Englewood students from four area high schools: The Dwight-Englewood School (DE), Dwight Morrow High School (DM), the Academies @ Englewood (AE), and Bergen Catholic High School (BC).
Auditions for Englewood Idol were open to any high school student living in, or attending school in, Englewood, NJ. More than 30 students auditioned and eleven talented semi-finalists were selected: Erica Butler (DE), Dasia Capers (DM), Ty Charles (BC), Ginamarie Enriquez (DE), Taijun Haskins (DM), Shaquille Hobson (AE), Aliyah Mangan (AE), D’Asia Morrisey-Floyd (DM), Liahshea Nicolas (DM), Brian Park (DE) and Oscar Zapat(DM).
The show also features “Englewood’s Best Dance Crew,” a competition between dancers representing Englewood’s three high schools. Dwight-Englewood English Teacher and Dance Club Advisor Vicky Frankel lends her choreographic talents to this competition, making the show a collaboration between both students and staff at the participating schools.
Producer Judy Aronson is thrilled to see so many people from these schools working together. “This event has become a great way for performing arts students and staff to get to know and trust each other. It seems like every year the show gets bigger; we get more students and staff who find a common bond and make a genuine connection both on and off stage.”
Organizers of this event include more than 40 students in the Dr. John Grieco Scholarship Fund elective and club. The elective class focuses on teaching students all aspects of event management, from creating budgets to designing marketing plans to ticket and T-shirt sales to event production. Students hope to raise $5,000 through this event and to top the attendance record of last year’s show, which drew an audience of 1300 people at the bergenPAC Theatre.
Englewood Idol is the largest annual fundraiser for the Dr. John Grieco Scholarship Fund. The late Dr. John Grieco was the Englewood Public School Superintendent who spearheaded the creation of the Academies @ Englewood as well as other initiatives bringing educational reform and greater opportunities for high school students in Englewood. The scholarship fund named in his memory serves to continue his efforts to create a campus unifying the students of Dwight Morrow High School and the Academies @ Englewood.
The classic black and silver Englewood Idol T-shirts are available for $10. Those interested in purchasing tickets or T-shirts or wanting to support the Dr. John Grieco Scholarship Fund can call 201.862.6133 or 201.294.0725, e-mail jaronson@epsd.org, or visit the website www.englewoodidol.com.
