THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 31, 1996 TAG: 9610310325
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHARLENE CASON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 66 lines
The weather outside was far from frightful - an unseasonable 82 degrees - but in the Virginia Beach Church of God, 40 high school students were singing ``Silent Night'' with the sweet softness of falling snow.
Clad in T-shirts and a sheen of sweat, the Cox High School chorus spent seven hours Wednesday recording Christmas carols, tapes of which they'll ship around the world to military men and women who can't be home for the holidays.
The students hope the effort will mean something to hundreds - if not thousands - of deployed service members.
``But it will be a success if only one person gets the tape and appreciates it,'' said Melissa Platt, president and student director of the Falcon Choral Student Association, ``because that one person will pass it along to someone else who will appreciate it.''
``The military gives so much to us - protection and freedom - we just thought they would really appreciate something like this,'' said Derek Futrell, an 11th-grader and the association's vice president.
Making the one-hour tape was the idea of Cox's choral director, Wendy van Gent. When she began teaching in Virginia Beach in 1989, the Michigan native was surprised at how much the local military personnel did for school children through such programs as Adopt-a-School.
``Then Desert Storm came up, and I was amazed at how the military and the community came together to support one another,'' said van Gent, 38. ``I started thinking back then how my students could do something for the military.''
After broaching the idea to students in Cox's three choral groups last spring, Van Gent held auditions.
The result: a group of 30 girls and 10 boys, mostly 11th- and 12th-graders, who devoted hours to practicing for Wednesday's taping.
The energetic youngsters could have used a bit of air conditioning in the church sanctuary, where temperatures climbed as the recording session wore on. But the background hum of air conditioner motors wasn't conducive to a 17-song tape about the comforts of snowfall, fireplaces and holly.
``There was nothing we could do about the sound of jets overhead, though,'' van Gent said. ``Actually, hearing them on the tape may remind some people of home.''
Getting the tapes to men and women in uniform remains a challenge: Though the ``studio space'' was donated, accompanist Wendy Young performed for no charge and Design Recording of Powhatan trimmed its taping fee, the chorus needs $3,000 to make and mail 1,000 tapes.
So far, the students have received about $600 in donations from local residents and businesses.
Van Gent's goal is to mail a free tape to any service member who requests it, or to any family member who wants one for someone in the military.
``If we get 3,000 requests, we'll find the money to make 3,000 tapes,'' she said. ``This gives the kids a sense of accomplishment, and it's a real outpouring to the community.'' MEMO: Contributions to the choral association holiday tape project can
be made to F.W. Cox High School, Holiday Choral Tape, c/o Wendy van
Gent, 2425 Shorehaven Drive., Virginia Beach, VA 23454. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by MIKE HEFFNER\The Virginian-Pilot
Melissa Platt, president and student director of the Falcon Choral
Student Association, sings during the recording of the Christmas
tape Wednesday.
KEYWORDS: CHRISTMAS MUSIC TAPE VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS MILITARY
PERSONNEL by CNB