The nugget., February 03, 2016, Page 23, Image 22

Wednesday, February 3, 2016 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
O’NEILL: New City hire
hails from Olympia,
Washington
Continued from page 3
photo provided
Justin Veloso teachers music to preschoolers.
SPRD enhances
music education
Sisters Park & Recreation
District (SPRD) Community
Preschool housed at Sisters
Elementary School has
added an enhanced music
education element to their
weekly schedule. Through a
grant from The Roundhouse
Foundation and a partnership
with Sisters Folk Festival,
the preschool program will
have guest instructors twice
a week and purchase some
instruments and books for
a more robust approach to
music.
Through Sisters Folk
Festival, Sisters High School
(SHS) graduate and profes-
sional musician Justin Veloso
will attend both preschool
classes and work with the
students on basic rhythm and
movement skills once a week.
In addition, Sisters High
School Americana Project
students will be in the class-
room an additional day per
week to demonstrate singing
with the young students.
Veloso graduated from
SHS in 2006 and recently
returned to Sisters after liv-
ing in New York City attend-
ing school at the New School
of Jazz and Contemporary
Music and working on his
music career. He is a sound
artist and percussionist. His
wide variety of talents and
interests have given him
opportunities to play and tour
with a wide variety of musi-
cians. Veloso has been look-
ing to expand his teaching
program to younger students,
and this grant has enabled
him the opportunity.
“I am really excited to start
exposing these really young
kids to some basic rhyth-
mic ideas, different types of
music and different instru-
ments,” Veloso says. “I think
that through listening and
experimenting with music
and instruments together
they can start to develop their
individual social intelligence.
I hope the exposure turns
them on to pursuing music as
they get older.”
The initial grant is for a
six-week trial program. After
the trial, an assessment will
be done to determine the
effectiveness of the music
program and if it will con-
tinue. Curriculum and other
notes will be kept throughout
the trial period to allow for
the preschool staff to repli-
cate the program. Through
part of the grant, the pre-
school was able to purchase
rhythm instruments and a
variety of books and CDs to
assist in the music lessons.
impressed with everyone’s
ability and willingness at City
Hall to do a myriad of things.
“I like the challenge
of performing a variety of
duties,” he said, “and not
specializing in just a few key
areas.”
O’Neill, a native of
Washington state, gradu-
ated from Linfield College
with a degree in accounting.
While at Linfield, he played
football for four years as a
wide receiver. He began his
accounting career with a pub-
lic accounting firm in Lake
Oswego, leaving to return to
Olympia, Washington where
he was born and raised, to
work in his family’s land-
scape supply business.
O’Neill’s roots in Olympia
run deep. His great grandfa-
ther worked for the Olympia
Brewing Company, carting
out the malt from the brewery
to sell to local farmers. His
grandfather and father car-
ried on the tradition. O’Neill
remembers as a child riding
in the trucks that delivered
the malt.
I like the challenge
of performing a
variety of duties,
and not specializing in
just a few key areas.
— Joe o’Neill
His dad started to back-
haul manure from the farm-
ers to the truck shop, where
he would mix it with dirt
and sell it. When the brew-
ery closed, O’Neill’s father
diversified from just the dirt/
manure mix to all kinds of
landscaping materials.
His parents still live in
Olympia, and he has two
older sisters, one in Olympia
and one in Camas.
O’Neill became familiar
photo by sue stafford
Joe o’Neill.
with Central Oregon during
numerous trips to visit two
of his college roommates,
in Terrebonne and Bend. He
also has a brother-in-law who
lives in Bend.
When he and his wife
were looking to do something
different and the job became
available in Sisters, they were
delighted to come here. They
were very fortunate to find
a house to rent right here in
town, where they live with
their two daughters, aged
four and one-and-a-half.
I am really excited
to start exposing these
really young kids to
some basic rhythmic
ideas, different types
of music and different
instruments.
— Justin Veloso
“We are thrilled to have
these musicians come in and
work with our students – and
the kids are loving it,” says
Valerie Selig, lead teacher for
the preschool program.
There is still space avail-
able for both the 3- and
4-year-olds class and the 4-
and 5-year-olds class through
the SPRD Community
Preschool. Registrations
are accepted throughout
the year on a first-come,
first-served basis. For more
information about the SPRD
Community Preschool or to
register your child visit www.
SistersRecreation.com or call
541-549-2091.
23
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