Morgantown/Honey Brook MAY 8, 2024
SERVING THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES SINCE 1954
Trumpeting his success
Planning the future, preserving the past at Hopewell Furnace
TVHS student attends state music festival BY FRANCINE FULTON
BY FRANCINE FULTON
Hopewell Furnace National Historic Site in Elverson preserves an 18th- and 19th-century iron furnace complex and offers a variety of programming for the community. Heading it all is Jeff Jones, site manager, who recently shared information about what his job entails with the Community Courier. Community Courier: What are some of your job duties? Jones: I work to ensure day-today activities and longer-term projects that are coordinated and carried out appropriately amongst park staff. I work closest with the park staff that most often interact with the public via the visitor center and/or programming presented throughout the year. Together
Jeff Jones
we plan special events, regular programming offerings, as well as off-site activities to help increase the public’s awareness of, and hopefully interest in, Hopewell. I also represent the park with various local organizations made up of historic See Hopewell pg 2
Patrick Skoniczin (left) and Robert Bennett, TVHS band director
sounds like a really good band right from the get-go. We work really well together, and we like to have a lot of fun,” he said. Patrick said that he has become friends with many of the band students after participating musical competitions in middle and high schools. “Some of the people I have been doing festivals with for six or seven years now,” he noted. “They are practically as close as some of my friends at Twin Valley. Some of these people will be my colleagues when I go out into the music field later on in life.” In addition to qualifying for states and playing in the concert band, Patrick’s original composition, Suite No. 1 for Concert Band, was chosen by the PMEA to be honored
as an outstanding selection in the Composition Program. The piece was recorded by the West Chester University (WCU) Wind Ensemble and was showcased during the conference in Erie. “Usually, for me, it can take anywhere between a month to six months to get something like this completed to the point where I know it’s finished,” Patrick said, explaining his composing process. “I usually start by coming up with a theme in my head and then I develop that. From there, I sit at the piano and work things out, and then I take my music notation software that I have on my computer and plug in the notes for all the different (instrumental) parts.” He said that hearing his original
CCACC to host annual car show in Morgantown BY FRANCINE FULTON
The Chester County Antique Car Club (CCACC) will hold its 44th annual car show on Saturday, May 25, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Classic Auto Mall, 6180 Morgantown Road, Morgantown. The event, which is free to attend for spectators, will feature a display of antique and classic cars, street rods, trucks and motorcycles, as well as a flea market and food vendors. A DJ will provide music. Dash plaques will be awarded
to the first 200 participants, and all vehicle owners will be entered into a random drawing to win a cash prize. The drawing will take place at 3 p.m. Previously, CCACC held its annual car show on Memorial Day at the Kimberton Fairgrounds. “This is our third year in Morgantown,” noted CCACC board of directors member Bruce Swayze, event organizer. “It was a dual show with the Valley Forge Mustang Club. We wanted to change dates and reconfigure some things, so we decided to go
See TVHS student pg 3
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s the school year winds down and students look forward to graduation, Twin Valley High School (TVHS) senior Patrick Skoniczin can ref lect on the many musical successes he accomplished in his high school career. Most recently, he qualified for the second year in a row to participate in the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (PMEA) annual All-State Festival held from April 17 to 20 in Erie. He was the only TVHS student who advanced to states. To qualify, he won auditions and participated in the maximum number of music festivals that a student can qualify for in a season in all three disciplines - band, chorus and orchestra - at the county, district, regional and state levels. A student is only allowed to participate in one discipline at the state level even if he or she qualified for all three as Patrick did. Patrick represented TVHS in the concert band, playing the trumpet. He was accompanied to states by his parents, Robert and Cheryl Skoniczin, and TVHS band director Robert Bennett. “We rehearsed for around two to two and a half days to perform a concert at the end of the festival,” Patrick explained. “We also had a guest conductor, Dr. Alfred Watkins. He is a legend in the band world. It was great to work under his baton.” Patrick noted that although the student musicians were from schools throughout the state of Pennsylvania, it was not hard for them to play together while performing in the concert, which featured five musical numbers. “You play your first note, and it
VOL XXXII • NO 14
See Car show pg 5
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