November 2010
Warrior Marching Band Earns Recognition
The 2010-11 Susquehannock High School Marching Warrior Band earned first place state honors in "Group 2, Open Class" competition at the United States Student Band Association (U.S.S.B.A) Pennsylvania State Championships, at Hershey Stadium in Hershey, Pa., in October. The showing earned the band a place in the national championship in Annapolis on November 5th.
A strong performance at the national festival earned the Warriors a seventh place national ranking.
Alumni are encouraged to keep up with the band’s activities and performance news at: www.warriorbands.org
New Mural Graces SHS Cafeteria
A new mural – an inspiration of the Susquehannock Art Club – now adds flavor to the high school cafeteria. The club targeted a project within the building that everyone would have the chance to view and enjoy. “We voted on locations and the cafeteria had the most votes,” said club advisor Wade Bowers. “We wanted to do something creative, yet something everyone could understand.”
The students decided on painting famous artwork replicas that incorporated food. The students created sketches and developed them into a final design. Following several stages of change and improvement, the work was applied in mural form to the front cafeteria wall, creating a distinctive and unique appearance.
Alumni Pride Dennis Good – Class of 1960
From Glen Rock to Nashville and points in between, a “Have Trombone – Will Travel” philosophy, along with superb musicianship and hard work, have given Dennis Good, a proud member of the Class of 1960, a life with which most professional musicians can only dream.
Good was born in Glen Rock in 1942 and attended Southern schools for every grade, beginning in the Glen Rock Elementary School, where he was a member of its last sixth-grade class. Pennsylvania was undergoing unprecedented school consolidation in that time, collapsing from nearly 3,000 school districts to 500, and Southern was in the forefront with its construction of Susquehannock – the first consolidated high school in the state.
But the improvement was not without some chaos. Good recalls a brief period in his elementary career when he was temporarily relocated to Kings School House in Railroad – since demolished – complete with all the trappings of a Norman Rockwell rural setting, including a pot-belly stove and two outhouses. In fact, much of his life in Glen Rock is reminiscent of a time much earlier than its real chronology – the town band, for example.
“I could hear the Glen Rock Band practices from my house on Monday nights,” he remembered. “They played in the community building and I started hanging around. I wasn’t yet good enough on trombone to perform, so they let me pull the bass drum wagon in parades. From that time, I knew what I wanted to do – play an instrument in a band.”
Good began taking trombone lessons from SHS director Prowell Seitzinger and gained proficiency at a remarkably early age. In fact, after only two and half years, he was playing with the Les Hildebrand swing band in York on weekends. He also had a very active musical life at school, performing in the band, orchestra, and chorus. Also he attended all the festivals – county, district, and state – for each. In addition, he was in the junior and senior play, the riding club, the photography club, and played basketball for a year. He was also the principal trombonist of the York Youth Symphony.
In the summers, he played with the Glen Rock Bank at festivals, picnics, and parades and was the featured soloist. By his junior year, he was taking lessons from the principal trombonist of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
But even with this focus, as Good approached graduation, he was unsure of what to do with his life. He knew it would have something to do with the trombone, but he did not know how. In the summer of 1960, a friend suggested he audition for the U.S. Army Field Band – one of the Army’s premier musical organizations, and he was awarded a position – almost unheard of for someone without college level training.
“It was the best thing for me at that time,” he said. “The band was a combination of World War II veterans who had played professionally in a civilian life and recent college graduates. With their advice and experience, I knew what I wanted to do next.”
While in the service, he travelled from Fort Meade to New York City to study with Lewis Van Haney, a trombonist with the New York Philharmonic that helped him perfect his technique.
After serving his three-year enlistment, Good auditioned for the prestigious Eastman School of Music. His performance was so impressive, he was awarded a four-year scholarship. While at Eastman, he was principal trombonist and soloist with a range of the school’s performing ensembles, including the Eastman-Rochester Orchestra.
In the summer of 1965, he was asked to play with the Si Zenter Band in Los Angeles. Zenter was a well-traveled big band trombonist and studio musician and had started his own recording band. Good spent the summer in Los Angeles performing with the group, but decided to return to Eastman to continue his studies. The next summer, he was called to Las Vegas by drummer Buddy Rich. Rich was another veteran big band player, who was starting his own group. Good had the good fortune to play on the classic, “Swinging New Big Band” LP, the record that launched Rich’s career as a band leader and re-energized a nation’s interest in big-band jazz.
“I never had a problem changing playing styles,” he said. “I could go from classical to jazz without thinking about it. I actually credit my Susquehannock band director for that. Mr. Seitzinger had me playing all kinds of music from the time I started.”
But again, Good resisted the temptation to stay in Los Angeles and returned to Rochester to finish his degree, doing so in 1967, with a bachelors in music and a performance certificate.
His career path choice at the time was to play in a symphony orchestra and he auditioned for the Nashville Symphony as it was passing through Rochester. He was hired on the spot as principal trombonist and moved to Tennessee.
He performed with the symphony for a year, but was working so much on the side with the likes of Al Hirt, Johnny Cash, Chet Atkins, the new Glen Miller Orchestra and Boots Randolph that he decided to make his living as a touring and recording musician. “I got to travel the world doing what I loved and got paid for it,” he said.
In his life off the road, Good taught at Tennessee State University, was an adjunct instructor and artist in residence at Vanderbilt, as well as a mainstay of Nashville recording studios. He also started his own ensemble, the Nashville Contemporary Brass Quintet, nationally known for performing and recording only new music.
After it provided him a good living for more than 40 years, Good retired his trombone, but not his passion for the music business. He currently works, as manager, with his wife, Karen Taylor- Good, a gifted singer/songwriter and recording artist. Karen has a Grammy nomination and three #1 records to her credit, along with an impressive resume of singing credits, including recordings with Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Kenny Rogers, and George Jones.
Looking back on a rich professional music career that has touched seven decades, he said “It’s been great. I’ve done almost everything I set out to do.”
Thanks to Dennis Good – Class of 1960 – for making us Warrior Proud.
Test Scores Continue Strong
Standardized test score results continue to place Southern Schools among the top academically in York County. For math achievement in grades four, five, six, seven, eight and 11 – all grades tested – students’ scores ranked first, second or third. Southern’s special education population also ranked first, second, or third.
In reading, Southern students in the top four among the 14 county school districts in all tested grade levels, with its special education population ranking #1 in five out seven categories.
State-tested writing scores were also tabulated, with Southern ranked #1 in grades eight and eleven.
In high school advanced placement testing, 37 students averaged 4.7 on a scale of five in calculus. In computer science, test averages were 3.7. Advanced placement Statistics students earned a collective 4.0. All these scores represented a substantial improvement from the preceding year.
Southern’s scores have consistently ranked at the top of the county and, more importantly, showed consistent improvement.
Volleyball Team Honors Educators
The Susquehannock High School girls’ volleyball team honored several teachers at a recent match as part of Educators' Night. The 11 varsity volleyball players selected teachers who they felt made an impact or difference in their lives.
Each teacher was recognized with a special message by the players, and also received a plaque. In the accompanying photo, members of the varsity team pose with the teachers they honored: front row - left to right: Rachel Moltz, Greg Pituch, Leah Deter, Jenki Deter, Caroline Savin, Mary Oles, Beth Garrison, Bob Quay, Sherelle Walker, and Wade Bowers; back row - left to right: Kacey Franz, Heather Walker, Hannah Bentz, Ken Alwine, Kara Anderson, Tamara Kelley, Katie Shaffer, Sharon Fassnacht, Lindsay Miller, Kevin Lawrence, Laura Detter, and Erica Littleton.
The Warrior Volleyball Legacy Volley Ball Update: The volleyball team ended another outstanding campaign with a heartbreaking • State champions 1974 – elimination from the first round of PIAA PIAA’s first tournament championship play on November 13. The • York County Champions in disappointment does not detract from an 2009 – YAIAA’s’ first outstanding season, one that added to the legacy of tournament Warrior Volleyball as among the premier programs • State Champions in 1999 in the state. • State Silver Medalists in 2004 and 2008 The 2010 Season accolades included a Divisional • District III Champions in 2008 championship and a District III silver medal. • District III Silver Medalists in 2009
Alumni Pride” and More on Warrior TV Webcast
For more school webcast info, click here: Warrior Television productions, featuring http://www.syc.k12.pa.us/channel_99.cfm alumni are now webcast via the School District website. Available productions are:
Dan Goebler ‘95 Jeff & Joy (Keller) Brown ‘74 Glenn Geiple ‘72 Todd Stiffler ’85 Jeff Joy ‘83 Daniel Jesse Mays ‘43 Dave Seitz ‘53 Bob Williams ‘52 Kevin Krebs ‘94 Mark Rill ‘99 Lisa Myers ‘89 Jeff Garner ‘95 Wade Bowers ‘98 Darryl Engler ‘65 Jack Hedrick ‘55 Daryl McCullough ‘82 Kevin Angle ‘97 Bobbie (Clark) Lamond ‘88 Russ Kramer ‘83 Joshua Chronister ‘ 94 Bruce Bauman ‘ 67
Jeff Molinsky ’97 Paul Rego, 97 Doug Walters ’03 Ronnie (’85) and Rob (’89) Eric Thiegs ‘91 Erica Shallcross ‘08 McCoury Roberta Thoman ‘65
Reunion News Class of 1981 30th Reunion TBA The Class of 1981 is organizing its 30th reunion; Contact [email protected] or call 717-367-8385 Class of 1985 25th Reunion TBA The Class of 1985 is organizing for its 25th reunion; contact [email protected] or call 717-521-8194 For additional information about these reunions, or to post information about your reunion, access the SHS alumni website:
http://www.syc.k12.pa.us/alumni_reunions.cfm
ALUMNI NEWS? All alumni are “reporters; contact [email protected]
Scholarship Giving Opportunities for Alumni
Name __ ___
Address
City State Zip
Contribution Amount: $ Contribution Allocation Amount General Scholarship Fund $ Bill Jones Scholarship Curtis Stermer Memorial Eric Gonzales Memorial $ Glen Rock High School Endowment Mail to: James Hartenstein, III Memorial SYCSD Foundation Jim McKinney Memorial P.O. Box 128 Karl Steger Scholarship Fund Glen Rock, PA 17327-0128 Kathy Yeater Scholarship Fund Loretta Rappoldt Scholarship Fund Peggy Kingman Memorial Gift Ron Leese Scholarship Fund Thomas Kerrigan Memorial $ Other (Specify ______) $ Total Contribution $ Registered Alumni Count Continues to Grow! PASS IT ALONG! Send a copy of the alumni newsletter to a classmate and encourage him or her to register on the alumni website at: http://www.syc.k12.pa.us/alumni_add.cfm
Class of: # Registered Class of: # Registered Class of: # Registered 2010 9 1990 20 1970 12 2009 14 1989 29 1969 24 2008 20 1988 30 1968 11 2007 8 1987 61 1967 18 2006 24 1986 32 1966 12 2005 46 1985 46 1965 9 2004 15 1984 17 1964 5 2003 21 1983 37 1963 15 2002 18 1982 33 1962 5 2001 29 1981 22 1961 10 2000 56 1980 8 1960 14 1999 43 1979 22 1959 2 1998 40 1978 13 1958 10 1997 42 1977 15 1957 20 1996 24 1976 18 1956 4 1995 38 1975 16 1955 16 1994 28 1974 13 1954 10 1993 32 1973 10 1953 11 1992 28 1972 19 1952 4 1991 42 1971 14 Total 1,264