Virtual Back To School Night: FAB Information

Hello FCA Frisco families! In case you missed the virtual back to school Fine Arts event this Tuesday evening, below is an extended version of the information provided about FAB – our Fine Arts Booster Club!

For those of you who don’t already know me, I am originally from England and so is my husband. Our daughter Mirabelle has been at FCA Frisco since the school opened and she is now in 8th grade. SHE is a born and bred Texan who likes nothing better than to correct what she believes is our incorrect pronunciation of just about everything! Mirabelle plays cello and she loves art. As a family we love FCA Frisco! One of the things we especially love about our school is the fact that every student is given the opportunity to explore all aspects of our fine arts programs.

We also feel very fortunate knowing that we have an amazing team of fine arts program teachers. Teachers who go above and beyond the call of duty and who care deeply about the school and their students. A great example of this would be just how very hard Holly Jo Camp and Martin Longoria worked this Spring to create a virtual art show for our students when our art exhibition was canceled. In the words of Holly Jo, they did this because they had promised their students an art exhibition and they didn’t want to disappoint them.

Wesley Peart and Harold Sprouls have been dedicated to providing our students with an outstanding program for both band and orchestra. The results of their hard work and the hard work of our students can already be seen. For example, last fall our students auditioned for the All Texas Small Schools’ Band auditions for the very first time. Sixteen of our students were accepted, which quite honestly is an incredible achievement given the fact the most of our students had only been playing their instruments for just over a year. I was fortunate enough to accompany Mr. Sprouls and our students to the all region rehearsal day and was able to appreciate just what a wonderful opportunity this was for our students. Talking to them it was clear that they felt very proud to be representing the school and that they had a lot of fun at the same time.

The Fine Arts Booster Club – or FAB as we prefer to be known – was formed last fall. The primary goal of the booster club is to provide volunteer support for fine arts events and activities.

As I’m sure you already know, charter schools receive considerably less funding than other ISD schools, to the tune of several thousand dollars per student, per year. So a second objective of the booster club is to help raise additional funds so that we can continue to grow and enhance our fine arts programs. We do this through a variety of fund raising events and by seeking donations from corporations within our community.

Speaking of fund raising, there are a couple of easy ways for everybody to help us raise funds. If you shop at Kroger you can help us by signing up for the Kroger community rewards program. It’s quick and easy to do. I would like to thank our families who have already signed up for the rewards program. We are already seeing the results in the checks we receive from Kroger. BUT, if every FCA Frisco family who shops at Kroger were to sign up for this program we would be able to raise several thousand dollars a year. So please help us! We also are enrolled in the Tom Thumb Good Neighbor program so if you shop at Tom Thumb you can help us by signing up for this program too!

Detailed information on how to enroll in both programs can be found on the FAB website https://www.griffinsfineartsbooster.org. Just go to our “Ways to Help” page and you will find all the information there. Our website is a great place to visit to find out more about the booster club, our goals and objectives, events and activities, and ways in which you can help. Another great place to visit for information is our Facebook page, FCA FAB – so please, like and follow us on Facebook too! You can find us at https://m.facebook.com/pg/FCAFAB or simply click here.

One of the things we particularly like to do whenever possible is to bring art and music together. Which is why this Spring, we held a competition and invited our art students to design our very first band and orchestra t-shirts. I admit I am probably somewhat biased here but I think the shirts look absolutely FABulous! Congratulations once again to Diya Patel, who created the winning design for our band shirts and to Maddie Hancock who created the winning design for our orchestra shirts. There will be many opportunities for our students to wear their shirts this school year so don’t forget to order yours! You go to https://www.shop.perfectshirtsfrisco.com/FCAMusic/shop/home or click here.

Our plan is to gradually expand our fine arts program merchandise and as we do so we will hold more competitions, because we want our students to be our designers!

Finally I have a plea to make. We are currently looking for a new treasurer, someone to continue to keep us on the straight and narrow from a financial perspective! If anyone is interested in this position, or if anyone has any questions about FAB and about how to get more involved in our organization, please contact me – my email address is janesleeth@yahoo.com.

I very much hope to see you all soon!

Jane Sleeth

President, FCA Griffins Fine Arts Booster Club