Dorchester Times: Dorchester Music Program Is Turning Heads

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Dorchester Music Program Is Turning Heads

Decades ago, Dorchester Public Schools was recognized across the region for having a great band and music program. Those days are coming back, it appears.

Two weeks ago, on Feb. 29, the following students represented Dorchester Elementary at the Sing Around Nebraska music festival in Omaha:

Jacob Cerny
Brett Ladely
Kiarra Corning
Kayli Carey
Fernie Perez
Jose Tellez
Bayli Kratochvil
Carly Rains
Bryer Shaw
Dorothy Simmons

Meanwhile, the following Dorchester students were accepted into the Crossroads conference honor band competition that will take place March 21:

Tim Havlat - trombone
Makenna Bird - trumpet
Moises Martinez - clarinet
Jacee Zoubek - clarinet (out of the 80-plus kids accepted, only three were 7th graders, and Jacee beat out numerous upper class men to gain a spot.)

It's also worth mentioning that Keegan Sholty earned a spot in the Crossroads Conference honor choir as a tenor. Breanna Muff (soprano) and Danni McKnight (alto) both made it into the Merdian honor choir competition that will take place April 1. This group only takes 20 students per part and more than 80 students auditioned per category.

Alli Novak (baritone sax) and Lena Zahourek (bass clarinet) and Abbey Zoubek (French horn) made the Meridian honor band, while the following students will be doing solos at Crete Band invitational on March 29:

Lena Zahourek - bass clarinet
Jacee Zoubek - clarinet
Alli Novak - alto sax
Jaki Acosta - snare
Abbey Zoubek - French horn
Cassie Cervantes - flute
Holly Nigh - flute
Mitchell Kratochvil - snare
Christian Weber - French horn

The 6-8 concert band will also be performing/judged. Dorchester band and choir will both be judged at the district music festival on April 22, in addition to the following soloists:

Tim Havlat - trombone
Moises Martinez - clarinet
Keegan Sholty - vocal
Lynn Cooke - vocal
Harmony Shepherd - vocal

A job well done to the DHS music program.

1 comment:

AnonymousMarch 13, 2016 at 10:48 PM
It should be noted that in the years since "decades ago" there have been many award winning musicians and musical groups at Dorchester school. It is great to see that these current students are keeping up the tradition of excellence.
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Dorchester: A Good Little Family Town

Dorchester, Nebraska (est. population 630) is located in northern Saline county. Close in proximity to Interstate 80, Dorchester is only 25 minutes from the state capital of Lincoln (est. population 250,000) and about 55 minutes from Omaha (metro population 725,000).

Dorchester's median resident age is 37 years. In 2005, Dorchester had a median family income of approximately $35,600. The median house value was about $63,000. About 95 percent of Dorchester residents commute to work via Interstate and highways.

The village has a quality public school, which received a $4.1 million expansion and modernization in 2008; it offers a small classrooms and individualized attention. Total enrollment of grades K-12 is around 230-250 students.

Ancestries of the Dorchester area are primarily German (42.4%), Czech (24.9%), Irish (12.5%), English (5.4%), and Dutch (4.9%).

Dorchester Historical Facts

* On July 4, 1871, the railroad reached Dorchester.
* Incorporated in 1881, Dorchester's population grew from 200 to 500 by 1882.
* In 1882, Dorchester had 90 buildings, 35 of which were businesses or public facilities. Brick buildings lined both sides of Washington Avenue for two blocks.
* Dorchester's longest-running newspaper was The Dorchester Star, which was published until the late 1940s.
* By 1889, Dorchester's population is said to have reached 800, while the town housed an opera house, a two-story brick schoolhouse with a bell tower, and four churches.
* By the 1910s, Dorchester had electricity, a water tower and a fire department.
* Dorchester's main arteries, Highways 6 and 33, were graveled in the 1940s.
* Dorchester's first irrigation well was drilled on Chris Weber's farm and rural electrification was finished following WWII.

A Village with History

Dorchester is one of the "alphabet towns" on the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad line built west from Lincoln. The town site was selected for its pleasant location in the northern part of Saline County, about eight miles west of Crete. This situation is an attractive one, being on the level prairie land, midway between the West Blue River and Turkey Creek. The first named stream is three miles north, and the latter about the same distance south from the town. Dorchester was platted in 1870 and incorporated in 1881. The name "Dorchester" came from either for a suburb of Boston by that name or a town in England. No one is sure. Two of the very first settlers were James Seely and Edward McIntyre, who both made Dorchester their permanent home.

Dorchester: In The Beginning

Here is a look at Dorchester around 1890, less than a decade after its official incorporation, as documented by Andreas' History of the State of Nebraska:
* POPULATION: "About 300, and is made up of a substantial and progressive class of citizens, who are moral and industrious. ... The town grew but very little until the year 1879, for the reason that Pleasant Hill, on Turkey Creek, a short distance south, was the county seat and naturally drew a trade for quite a large scope of country."
* BUSINESS: "The business and professional interests of the town are represented by three general merchandise stores, two drug, one grocery, one furniture, two hardware, and two millinery stores, one bank, two restaurants, two hotels, three livery stables, a post office, one newspaper office, two elevators, two lumber yards, two coal yards, two blacksmith shops, two lawyers and four physicians."
* SCHOOL: "The schoolhouse is a good one. The schoolhouse was built in 1872, since which time the public schools have been continually kept up. The present schoolhouse is 24' x 40' in size, two stories high. The school is graded and consists of three departments. The house is found too small, and arrangements will soon be made to increase its size."
* CHURCHES: "There are three substantial churches."
* HOMES: "The residence portion of the village is made up of neat houses of different styles of architecture, but none of them very large."
* NEWSPAPER: "The Dorchester Star, which was established August 21, 1881, by H. C. Bittenbender, who edited it until January 19, 1882, when he sold it to Ryerson & Bullock, the present proprietors. The Star is a bright weekly paper, five-column quarto, in size, and is Republican in politics."