I Am Observing At Eastridge High School - 933 Words

1. School Structure I am observing at Eastridge High School in the East Irondequoit Central School District. At Eastridge, I am working with Mr. Jeff Hoffman, a Nazareth graduate for his undergraduate and graduate degrees, who oversees the ninth through twelfth grade band program at Eastridge. The East Irondequoit Central School District is a small district with around three thousand students. Eastridge has around one thousand of those students in its nine through twelve building. Out of these students, fifty-one percent identify as being in poverty where, as New York defines it, â€Å"the point at which a family would have to spend more than a third of its income on food.† Because of this, many students are given free or reduced lunch. Many students also bring many household problems to school. Many students are traveling from house to house and explaining that their parents are fighting again or in jail. The spirit of these children, however, are extremely positive and they take this issues with great optimism. Also within the school is a very diverse group of children with around fifty-seven percent of students identifying as white, nineteen percent identifying as black or African American, and seventeen percent identifying as Hispanic or Latino. 2. Overview of Music Program Similar to the demographics, the music program is very limited and small. At Eastridge, there are two main bands, the concert band, which is the first band new students are put into, and the wind