​It was great meeting with the instructors and board to kickoff this years #AHISD stings program support planning. Did you know Friends Of Stings (FOS) support is critical to supporting a rewarding experiance for kids and community?

FOS supports
over 800 students
6 teachers
85 hrs per student per school year in formal instruction
4 school campuses
Over 27 concerts
Music clinics
Mock auditions
Regional and school auditions Orchestras
Guest artists, Recitals UIL, and scholarship competitions
Since 1973, the AHISD Strings program has grown 40 times larger than the original 18 students.  Today there is a a student to teacher ratio of 1 to 133.  We learned tonight that AHISD can look to expanding further as there are over 400 elementary school students, including over 20 Bass players in the 4th grade.  How exciting is that?


So the program is alive and impacting kids everyday but is reliant on your support to continue providing high quality musical instruction and student support. 

As a non-profit, volunteer organization, Friends of Strings aids strings teachers in training your children to play their instruments, offering them a valuable and enriching education in the field of music. This year, Friends of Strings has set a specific goal of raising an additional $15,000 to address budget shortfalls.

Your donation makes a difference.

https://ahstrings.weebly.com/join-friends-of-strings.html
#AHISDMyStory #GoPublic Alamo Heights Independent School District Cambridge Elementary PTO Woodridge Elementary PTO Alamo Heights Junior School PTO Alamo Heights High School

Welcome to FOS for the 2019-2020 School Year! Your enthusiasm and support is greatly appreciated! I am the FOS President for the 2019-2020 school year, and I and the rest of the FOS Board welcome your participation!

To that end, the attached Word document contains the FOS Board membership (Table 1). Voting members are noted in yellow, members at large are noted in blue, and the AHISD strings teachers are noted in green. For those of you returning from last year you will see some position changes as well as some new names from last year. We are excited to welcome the new members, and the changes in positions reflect a revisit to the FOS by laws to ensure that we are in conformance and meeting their intent. Going forward in this school year, we will use the essence of the FOS purpose in the by laws as our guiding principle in all FOS actions:

Operate, maintain, and/or support a non-profit institution which trains children to play stringed musical instruments and offers an education in the field of music with enrollment of students and assignment of students, teachers, and other staff 

Table 2 in the attachment reflects the calendar for the year. The schedule may change over time, and it has been sent to the teachers for their review and input. However, it should serve as a good start to ensure we have FOS attendance at events to convey the FOS message and solicit donations, memberships, and participation. To that end, the table also indicates the role FOS assumes it will play in AHISD string events. 

Continuing as with last year, FOS meetings will be held the first Tuesday of every other month beginning in September. All meetings will be held at the AHHS Strings Room beginning at 6:30pm. The intent is for them not to last more than one hour. The first meeting will be 3 September at 6:30pm. An agenda will be sent ahead of time but the main intent for the meeting will be to approve the budget, document the new board members, review the over all calendar, and message the purpose of FOS as the guiding principal in all FOS actions.

As always, we are looking for additional volunteers. If you know of anyone else who would like to participate in this exciting non-profit organization that gives 100% of its proceeds to support a strings program, please let us know, and we will reach out to them. 

Thank you for your continued support! We look forward to seeing you at the meeting!

Erica Becvar 

I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Paul Dueringer and I am new to Alamo Heights.  My wife Lisa and daughter Reese moved here two years ago from Seoul, South Korea.  This is also my first year supporting FOS strings and managing a web site. I am a strong believer in the FOS mission and the impact a strong strings program can have on the lives of our community and children. There is no reason we cannot have the best strings program in the State.  But we will need your support to get there. Our efforts to help resource the programs with additional instructors, instruments and scholarships will make a tremendous impact on our children and strings programs.  I look forward to your feedback and request that you send a photo(s) to post. Try to remember to provide the strings event date, time and names.

Key Dates in August 2019:

• 13   Parent Meeting 6-7 PM AHJS Auditorium; Friends Of Strings (FOS) table on site
• 14    7th/8th Grade  sizing (Come and Go) AHJS Room 603;  FOS table on site
• 22    Cambridge 5th Grade Instrument Pick Up; FOS table on site
• 29    Cambridge 4th Grade Instrument Pick Up; FOS table on site

Take care
​Paul

FOS Board has approved new chairs for the 2019-2020 cycle.

We wish to invite all parents to join our meetings, find out more about the program and hopfully volunteer with us.

It's a wonderful program that needs the community support  and fresh ideas to succeed.

Come and join us!