Drastics' song-fest to benefit area high school students
The Skidmore College Drastic Measures, a co-ed a cappella music group, will headline its annual benefit concert at 8 p.m. Friday, March 28, in the college’s Filene Recital Hall. Suggested donation for admission is $5 per person.
The program will feature music by the Drastic Measures along with performances by Skidmore a cappella music groups the Dynamics, the Sonneteers, the Accents, and the Treblemakers. The Racing City Chorus, always a crowd-pleaser, also will perform.
Skidmore’s Drastic Measures has a tradition of singing to support community organizations. This year’s concert beneficiary is Saratoga Sponsor-A-Scholar, which assists economically disadvantaged young men and women with completing high school and graduating from college.
Since its founding in 2003, the Drastic Measures have dedicated every major on-campus performance to a charitable organization, raising money for AIDS awareness, cancer research, mentoring programs, a children’s choir in Kenya, and more. Each fall, the group’s members vote on which charity will be supported for an academic year, explained William Zhang ’14, a four-year member of the group and currently its president. “We do it to give back to the community,” he said. Proceeds of every performance that the group gives each year are directed toward the selected charity.
Buckets will be passed during the show for those wishing to make an additional contribution.
Sponsor-A-Scholar selects students motivated to achieve academically who could use additional support and direction to meet their goals. Students are nominated by guidance counselors and teachers in the ninth grade and selected by a rigorous process that includes an application, recommendations, and an interview with students and families. Many students are the first in their family to attend college. Students participate in the program from sophomore year of high school through college graduation.
The mission of the Saratoga Sponsor-A-Scholar program is to increase access to higher educational by offering support in the form of time, mentors and money. The direct beneficiaries of the program include students and their families, but the hope is that the community at large will also benefit from Sponsor-A-Scholar students returning with college degrees to work and improve the overall culture of the community.
