NATIONAL ANTHEM PERFORMANCE … The Edon Junior High Choir performed the National Anthem for the Toledo Mud Hens baseball game on May 25, 2022. The choir is made up of 33 Edon 7th and 8th grade students and directed by Cathy Frastaci. The game was a School Education Day game with thousands of students from local schools enjoying the game versus the Nashville Sounds. (PHOTO PROVIDED)
By: Rebecca Miller
For the past twelve years, ever since Cathy Frastaci came to be the Music teacher at Edon Schools, the Junior High Choir has had the fun of singing for Mud Hens and Walleye games.
They have sung for one or the other each year, minus the past two due to covid. This year, Mrs. Frastaci set it up for the choir to sing for both teams, so that the 8th graders wouldn’t miss out on the Walleyes.
On March 26, 2022, the students got to sing at a sold-out Toledo Walleye game, with 7700 in attendance. May 25th saw them enjoying the day, leading the National Anthem for the date when the parking lot is crammed with hundreds of school busses from all over NW Ohio, SW Michigan and NE Indiana.
Mrs. Frastaci loves giving the students an opportunity to sing in front of seven to ten-thousand people. “It is encouraging and fun,” she said.
Besides having the fun of missing a whole day of school, the 33 students who went this year all wore their own Edon blue shirts from whatever activities they enjoy. The group looked great and sang well, with some in the audience singing along with them.
This year there were only five boys in the choir but Mrs. F said that they did a great job, carrying the bass part as the choir sang in three-part harmony. They were very happy not to get rained out.
This tradition got started because when Mrs. F taught school in Toledo, she walked the mile with her classes to attend Mud Hens games.
“I saw that other schools took the opportunity to sing the national anthem, so when I came to Edon, I called their events manager and got our name on the list to sing,” she explained.
The students are microphoned and amplified, standing tall in front of a large audience, singing proudly.
Mrs. F also teaches HS Choir, who got to go to Nashville this year and sing at the Country Music Hall of Fame.
General Music for grades K-8 is also on her schedule and this year she started piano classes for all the 5th graders and about 40 JH students who chose that as part of an elective.
Rebecca can be reached at rebecca@thevillagereporter.com