OVERVIEW
The Harborfields Central School District Music Department offers a comprehensive music education program to all students K-12. The district's music program received recognition as part of the American Music Conference's "100 Best Communities for Music Education" program. For two consecutive years, Harborfields High School was cited for having one of the top music programs in the United States as a finalist in the NARAS Grammy™ Signature High School Awards program.

A balanced program of music performing ensembles and classroom music is offered to all students, with 25 performing ensembles in grades 4-12. In addition, the district offers music electives in General Music, Music Theory, Advanced Placement Music, Music in Our Lives, Beginning Guitar, Conducting and Score Reading, Applied Performing Arts, and various instrumental and vocal ensembles.

A number of students from Harborfields are chosen each year to participate in local, state, regional, and national music honor performing ensembles. Harborfields High School supports an active chapter of the Tri-M National Music Honor Society with over 60 members. Each year, many graduating students in the Harborfields music program go on to pursue careers in music performance and music education at the college and university level.

HHS MUSICIANS SELECTED TO 2008 NYSSMA ALL-STATE
Three outstanding Harborfields High School student musicians have been recognized for NYSSMA All-State selection this year! These talented students were selected from over 8,000 students auditioning at last spring's NYSSMA solo festivals for All-State selection throughout New York State.

Congratulations to:
Karen Chalif, Alto Voice (Senior)
Sara Reinish, Soprano Voice (Junior)
Salina Solomon, Alto Voice (Senior)

Our trio of talented young ladies will represent Harborfields High School and school district as members of the 2008 NYSSMA All-State Women's Chorus. They will perform on Saturday evening, December 6th at the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, New York under the direction of their guest director, Prof. Betsy Cook Weber from the University of Houston, Texas. Congratulations to Karen, Salina and Sara, their teachers and families. We are most proud of this wonderful accomplishment!

KAREN CHALIF: LONG ISLAND SCHOLAR-ARTIST, DECEMBER 2008
The Harborfields Music and Art Department is proud to announce that HHS senior musician Karen Chalif has been recently named one of two Long Island Scholar-Artists for the month of December 2008 by the Long Island Arts Alliance. Karen's selection as a Scholar-Artist is Harborfields' second Scholar-Artist selection in as many years since the inception of the program in the fall of 2007.

Karen is one of Harborfields High School's most dedicated and busy student musicians. In addition to her membership in just about every musical performing group at HHS, Karen has shown outstanding dedication to every facet of musical life at Harborfields throughout her years in our music program. Karen was recently named as a selection to NYSSMA All-State for the second consecutive year. She is one of our top academic students, is a talented athlete and excels as a cellist, pianist and singer.

Karen's selection as a NEWSDAY Long Island Scholar-Artist is based on the dedication she has shown to the music program at HHS in addition to her outstanding academic fitness and the recommendations of staff and administrators. This past summer, a committee of arts educators worked diligently to analyze each application for academic and artistic achievement, had the difficult job of choosing students worthy of the Scholar-Artist honor. A profile and photo of Karen and the Scholar-Artist and Newsday leadership will appear in Newsday later this fall.

The Scholar-Artist program was established by school and community arts teachers and administrators and is sponsored by the Long Island Arts Alliance, with support from the Roslyn Savings Foundation. These organizations determined that selected Long Island students in music, fine arts, dance, theater, and media arts should be recognized for their accomplishments by featuring their stories in Newsday, and by presenting them to the public in an annual recognition event at the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in the spring of 2009.

Congratulations to Karen, her family and teachers for this outstanding accomplishment!