Lustre News

The Lustre Grade School held its spring concert on May 9, at 1 p.m. The program began with a piece by the teachers, joined consecutively by the classes scattered around the auditorium. It was energetic! The bands and choirs were under the excellent leadership of Mr. Dan Marasco. The young but good fifth-sixth grade band played "Sousa Spectacular," "March of the Royal Guard" with solos on clarinet by Hannah Pancratz and alto sax by Justin Schiller. Mr. Marasco explained the piece was too easy for the seventh-eighth graders, so he had the younger band try it, with good success. They also played "Galactic Episode," which was beautiful, and "Oh When the Saints." This band was noted for watching their director carefully which made for good dynamics. The 17-piece seventh-eighth grade band played "Sousa on Parade," "Fiesta Mexicali," both pieces by O'Reilly/Williams. They finished with "Down to the River" by Michael Sweeney.

The program's music theme was American Spirituals. The fifth-sixth grade choir sang "Deep River" and "Promised Land" by Natalie Sleeth. Both were excellent. The seventh-eighth grade choir sang "Hush! Somebody's Callin' My Name" arr. by B.W. Dennard. It was a very poignant piece, done so well. The fifth-eighth grade choir sang "Siyahamba," arranged by Dan Marasco and "Go Down Moses," dedicated to Bryan Ewing. The students surprised everyone by moving quickly from the choir to their instruments to finish "Go Down Moses" as a band piece with Mr. Marasco on the Bass Guitar and staring KJ Brown on the drums.

The members of the fifth-eighth grade choir were: (Soprano): Bryanna Allen, Lucia Benade, Grace & *Samuel Byers, Sheila Jones, Brielle Keller, Aubry and Sidney Klatt, *Joe Olfert, Hannah Pancratz, *Liam Reyneke, Nancy Schiller and Ashtyn Traeholt. (Alto): Kencia Brown, Justice Byers, *Gunner Damboise, Lauren Fast, *Coleman and Holly Hilkemann, Ava Holtzrichter, Samantha and *Jake Neufeld, *Drew and Harlo Reddig and *Justin Schiller. (Tenor) Bryson Allen, and those marked with * on "Siyahmba"; (Bass): KJ Brown, Kayden Charette, Wheeler Damboise, AJ Lloyd, Joel Reddig and Christopher Traeholt. (picture)

The members of the fifth-sixth grade band were (Flute) Lucia Benade, Harlo Reddig, Nancy Schiller, (Alto Sax) Jake Neufeld, Justin Schiller, Drew Reddig, (Clarinet) Hannah Pancratz, (Trombone) Joe Olfert, Sam Byers, (Trumpet) Coleman Hilkemann, Gunner Damboise, (Percussion) Liam Reyneke, Bryanna Allen.

The members of the seventh-eighth grade band were (Flute) Lucia Benade, Sidney Klatt, Ashtyn Traeholt; (Alto Sax) Kencia Brown, Kayden Charett, Christopher Traeholt; (Trumpet) Grace Byers, Lauren Fast, Samantha Neufeld (Clarinet) Bryson Allen, Justice Byers; (Baritone) Sheila Jones. (Trombone) Holly Hilkemann and AJ Lloyd; (Percussion) KJ Brown, Wheeler Damboise and Joel Reddig.

The kindergarten-second grade class performed "How do we know spring is here?" and answered with a bird walk, a ladybug walk, a butterfly walk, and a frog walk. Fun! The seventh-eighth grade class presented a skit called "America has NO talent"! The fifth-sixth grade class infused the program with optimism in a song called "We are the world" with lyrics "We are the children, we are the ones to make a better day, so let's start giving." When the third-fourth grade class finished their dance and song, head teacher John Dubois drew the attention of the auditorium to the fact that three of the families involved in the school had had a very challenging summer, and two were students in grades three-four. He said "The fact that Gavin Pancratz was walking around, and singing, (after his accident) and that McKenna Bell is dancing and singing with the class (after facing cancer), is a testament to their faith, and your faith as a community. It will be the most cherished memory I take from this year, as well as Shelly Keller's return to her post. The program closed with a finale directed by Mr. Prince Agisbit called "Circle of Life" from the Lion King, with the entire school in full costumes. The community was treated to a gracious extravaganza in the concert. Thank you!

The LCHS track team took first place at the Divisional Tournament on Thursday, May 16, with 97 points.

Amending last week's report on Mr. Unrau's address to the induction of NHS members, the following LCHS alumni were selected to the first National Honor Society in 1966: Arlynn Toavs, Evonne (Unger) Brown, Kathy Unrau, Jurene Unrau, Janet Toews, Ken Olfert and Jean (Schmidt) Toews.

LCHS held it's 2024 graduation on Sunday, May 19, at 3 p.m.