To Whom It May Concern,
I am pleased to write this letter of recommendation for “When the Music Stops”. I am a school counselor at St. Vincent- St. Mary High School and I am consistently looking for beneficial programs for our students that they also enjoy. We have had many programs and speakers come in that may be valuable in our mind, however if the students do not relate to the speaker and their presentation, not much is taken away from it. When we were approached to bring this program to our school, we were hesitant at first due to our past experiences with new programs. However they kindly agreed to come in and talk with myself and the other counselor about the program and how it would benefit our students. We were instantly impressed by their friendly demeanor, the layout of the program, that it was free of charge, and how much it related to the students. We decided to schedule a day for them to come in and present the program to our whole school.
Any high expectation’s we had for this program were met and exceeded. We were so impressed with the leaders in this program and how prepared they were for the presentation. They came to the school on time, set everything up on their own, and were excited and ready for the students as they entered the room. The upbeat music, passing out of t-shirts, and dancing on stage instantly attracted the students to this program and the message they had for them. During the program I looked around and was amazed at how interested and engaged every student was with this program. The personal witness stories were very relatable to many challenges that our students have and are going through, and it was very evident by their silence that they were connecting with the stories. The program highlighted on “dream killers” which included Apathy, Fear and Lack of Encouragement, and Inner Brokenness which are all struggles I see every day as a high school counselor. When the program ended many of our students approached the leaders to thank them for coming and for giving them such a motivational and powerful message. I had students flooding my office for weeks to talk about the program, how they could relate, and how it inspired them to persevere through their challenges and be a world changer for those around them. The program took place at our school eight months ago and I still have students relating to the message that was given that day and how it has helped them.
As a counselor I am constantly searching for ways to help my students with the everyday struggles our society has placed on them. As one person, I know I do not have the ability to reach out to every single student and give them a powerful message like this program has done for them. I am so thankful that our students were able to have this experience and take so much away from it. I am planning on having this program return to our school every year, and highly recommend that every school take this opportunity to benefit their students who so greatly need a message like this.
If you have any further questions about this program please feel free to call me at any time.
Emily Buehrle
School Counselor
St. Vincent- St. Mary High School
Phone: (330) 996-0023
Fax: (330) 996-0020