Seattle Public Schools Beat Newsletter November 6, 2009 Recognizes Roosevelt High School Organ Project

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Original Roosevelt High School pipe organ back in operation

Audience attend a concert at Roosevelt High School last month, left photo, to hear a a 70-year-old Roosevelt High School pipe organ, right photo, that had been completely refurbished.

Thanks to the help of volunteers, a 70-year-old Roosevelt High School pipe organ has been completely refurbished and is being used in the Roosevelt music program. Help came from volunteer work and donations of the Seattle Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, the Friends of the Roosevelt High School Froula Memorial Pipe Organ, and the Alliance for Education. The pipe organ is named for Roosevelt’s first principal, Vaclav Karel Froula, who passed away in 1938. The organ became a central part of the school and community: staff and principals would play the organ to greet students as they arrived each morning. Forty-three volunteers from the Pipe Organ Foundation spent 5,100 hours rebuilding and expanding the instrument.  Other donors to the $38,000 project included the Roosevelt Golden Grads and the Puget Sound Theatre Organ Society. Special thanks go to Carl Dodrill - Pipe Organ Foundation president - who managed this project, along with the Roosevelt High School administration and fine arts faculty and the SPS Building Excellence employees who donated their spare time to assist.

Read the entire Seattle Public Schools Beat Newsletter for November 6, 2009.

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