Many students at North Lenoir High School don’t give much thought to the school’s mentally disabled students. Most don’t interact with them at all.
Holly Holder is not most students.
Holder, 17, has been working to fund a special gift for the 20 mentally disabled students at her school – percussion instruments.
A senior at North Lenoir, Holder has been working to bring music to the mentally disabled for almost four years.
“They love it, and they pick up on music very well,” Holder said.
Last year, Holder led a group of 20 disabled students in a concert, teaching students to sing and to do small hand motions while she played guitar for them. The show was a success and this year she wants to expand on the idea.
With the help of a group of band and choir directors, Holder was able to find beginner percussion kits containing finger cymbals, triangles, tambourines, maracas and other percussion instruments.
In order to fund the instrument kits, Holder turned to the Internet.
In October, she created a GoFundMe.com page, and began asking her fellow students for donations.
“It was amazing. I put it on my Facebook and in 10 minutes my friends started sharing it and donating,” Holder said. “Other students who I didn’t really know would come up to me in the hall and ask me how they could donate.”
While the fundraiser didn’t fully meet its $600 goal, it did raise enough to purchase one kit for each student at North Lenoir. Holder plans to distribute the kits to students next week.
“Our kids love music, we are really excited,” said Edna Howell, exceptional children teacher at North Lenoir High School. “We’ll hear a lot of noise, but we are game for it.”
Stacy Britt, another exceptional children teacher at North Lenoir, said many of her students are non-verbal, but will appreciate the new instruments.
“It’s a way for them to express themselves, to interact with their non-disabled peers,” she said.
Holder said she plans to use the new percussion kits to teach students how to play music, and hopes to host another concert in February.
The fundraiser Holder started to buy the kits is still open through the end of the holidays. Any extra money brought into the fundraiser will go towards buying similar kits for disabled students at other Lenoir County schools.
Read full article on Kinston.com