The Grammy Foundation has announced that Metea Valley and Waubonsie Valley high schools are among the 119 schools nationwide that have been selected as Grammy Signature Schools Semi-finalists for 2016.
Finalists will be announced in mid-March and the selected schools will receive a custom award and a monetary grant ranging from $1,000 to $6,000 to benefit their music program.
Above / Waubonsie Valley High, located at 2590 Ogden Ave. in Aurora, is one of four high schools and one freshman center that serves students in Naperville, Aurora, Bolingbrook and Plainfield who live in School District 204. (PN File Photo)
Above / Metea Valley High School is located at 1801 N. Eola Road in Aurora, in School District 204. (PN File Photo)
Created in 1998, the Grammy Signature Schools program recognizes top U.S. public high schools that are making an outstanding commitment to music education during an academic school year. District 204 high schools have previously won multiple Grammy awards, including Neuqua Valley being recognized twice as the top music program the country.
“From our perspective, many public high schools across the country provide top notch music education programs for their students—often working with very limited financial means,” said Neil Portnow, President/CEO of The Recording Academy and the Grammy Foundation. “Our Grammy Signature Schools program steps in to augment those resources with cash grants, and to celebrate the excellence of these programs and the beneficial and lasting effects of a music curriculum in the lives of young people.”
The selection process for Grammy Signature Schools begins when the Grammy Foundation mails notification to more than 20,000 public high schools from districts large and small, urban, suburban and rural, requesting information about each school’s music program. After the applications are scored, finalists are identified and asked to submit additional documentation, such as recordings of school concerts, sample concert programs and repertoire, which is then reviewed by an independent blue-ribbon committee of top music educators and professionals to determine the schools that merit Grammy Signature School status.
For more information about Grammy in the Schools, visit http://www.grammyintheschools.com/features/2016-grammy-signature-school-semifinalists-selected.
News submitted by Janet Buglio for Indian Prairie School District 204
Editor’s Note / In addition to Metea and Waubonsie, the other Grammy Semi-Finalists in Illinois are Batavia High School in Batavia, Elk Grove High School in Elk Grove Village, Freeport High School in Freeport, Harry D. Jacobs High School in Algonquin, New Trier High School in Winnetka, Princeton Township High School in Princeton, Prospect High School in Mount Prospect and York Community High School in Elmhurst.
