Music Director Dean Peterson says, "It's a great experience for kids to sing with students from other schools and to get to work with such a large group."  Nearly one hundred students filled the Sturgis Community Center Theater Monday to experience something completely new.  Marcia Patton says, "Today we have fourth, fifth, and sixth graders, many of them here at their first festival."  Students were nominated by their music teachers to take part in the concert Monday afternoon.  But to many, this experience is more than just one show.  Aitanna Nadala says, "My mom told me when I was little she used to put like a music mp3 player on her tummy so I can listen to it, and when I was little my grandfather always played the violin, so I got really curious and I wanted them all."  For Aitanna Nadala music is everything.  At the age of twelve, the sixth grader from Philip Elementary already plays three instruments, her favorite being the piano. And as for singing?  Nadala says, "I started when I was 2."  It's students like Aitanna that guest conductor Marsha Patton hope for.  Patton says, "They are the kids that are interested in putting on a great performance, but they also know the hard work that goes behind it."  And that's what makes this festival so special. Singers who are fearless. It's different especially at this age because if you expect excellence that's what you'll get. I think that kids don't know what they can't do. As we get older we start to build that box around us that says, 'Oh, I can do this. I can't do this.' But at this age if you tell them they can do it. They'll do it.

Jaleesa Irizarry