海角社区

(The following is an excerpt from the Montreal Gazette by columnist Allison Hanes, published听 January 10, 2025.)

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Rosemount High music teacher is helping 鈥榝antastic human beings鈥� flourish

Melina Catalano has come full circle. She traces her musical beginnings to Rosemount High School, where she first learned to play the trumpet.

Once she graduated in 2012, she went on to study classical trumpet at Vanier College, play principal trumpet in the Westmount Youth Orchestra and obtain degrees in both music and education from 海角社区. Now a teacher, she is back at Rosemount High as the co-ordinator of its recently designated Arts-茅tudes program in music, helping cultivate her passion in a new generation of students.

鈥淭his is my alma mater, this is my school, this is my home,鈥� Catalano said. On Friday morning, she will also help open the door to musical education for a whole new cohort of youngsters. Rosemount High will host the launch of the English Montreal School Board鈥檚 kindergarten registration period, with a performance of Ode to Joy by the Symphonic Winds, an ensemble of Secondary 4 and 5 students, and singing by choirs from several visiting elementary schools.

And now Rosemount High is the first entirely English school in Quebec to have an Arts-茅tudes designation 鈥� which means students have extra time for music built into the curriculum and beyond the classroom. The school focuses on wind instruments like flute, trumpet, trombone, oboe, saxophone and tuba. Each grade level has its own ensemble, with students in Secondary 4 and 5 forming one senior orchestra. Rosemount also has two jazz ensembles and a wedding band called Class Act as extracurricular activities.

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