Holy Family’s Got Talent
Deidra Bowling-Meade
The Ashland Beacon
American poet Maya Angelou once stated, “I believe that every person is born with talent.” Each of us has our own special gifts to share with others. Sometimes, it takes extra encouragement and help from others for us to find our talent. Holy Family Catholic School teacher, Julie Peacock, makes it her mission to share her love of the arts with her students so that in turn they can explore their own talents. Ms. Peacock believes in her students, and it shows.
Peacock described how she found her passion for music and how it inspires her teaching, “When I was in the third grade, I began taking piano lessons from the late Thelma Johnson who was a legendary figure in music education in Ashland. She was at the end of her career when I knew her, having taught music at Booker T. Washington before integration, later at Putnam Jr. High and in retirement- when I knew her- she had an active piano studio out of her house on Carter Avenue. She sparked my interest in music, and I always remember her stories. She had been given free piano lessons from a nun at Holy Family church as a young girl while her mother was cleaning the church. Much of my music education, I learned from her early on, but I went on to study music and piano at Georgetown College and was a member of the chamber choir and jazz band.”
Peacock received her Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Kentucky and has taught in both public and private schools. Peacock commented, “This is my first year back to teaching after taking 13 years off to take care of my three children. My youngest went to kindergarten this year, so I decided to go back when I heard they were looking for an art and music teacher at Holy Family, which is where my kids were already enrolled. Prior to having children, I taught six years in higher education at both Cumberland College where I was the chair of the art department and as a grad student at the University of Kentucky. I have also taught art and music in various other arts venues including public schools, summer camps, art galleries and occasionally given private lessons.”
Peacock continued, “Music has always been something I have enjoyed, and I have really enjoyed sharing some of my favorite songs with the students at Holy Family. Often, I will teach them familiar songs out of the hymnals such as ‘How Great Thou Art’, ‘There is A Balm in Gilead,’ ‘Were You There?,’ ‘Hail Holy Queen’ and ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing.’ Other times, we work on folk songs such as ‘The Crawdad Song’ and ‘This Land is Your Land.’ Middle school and 4th and 5th grade have been working on instrumental music most of the spring semester. They had the opportunity to provide vocal and handbell music for the worship service at the Stations of the Cross service during Lent. They also played handbells at the Christmas program.”
Last Friday, May 5, kindergarten through middle school-aged students from Holy Family embraced their talents and put on a remarkable performance. The performance consisted of 17 acts by Holy Family students ranging from singing, playing instruments, dancing, gymnastics, and comedy. Peacock shared, “For the talent show, I tried my best to get everyone to participate. Kindergarten, first and second graders have been working on patriotic songs on and off since the beginning of the year. Many of them had not heard some of my old favorites like ‘It's A Grand Ol' Flag’ and ‘My Country Tis of Thee,’ but these songs soon became some of their favorites as well. A lot of kids had wanted to sing one of these songs for the talent show, so I decided to let everyone sing them and to just give some students solos and duets on some of the verses. Lately, third, fourth and fifth graders have been learning to apply the fundamentals of reading music by learning to play melodies on the recorder. Thus, I included the two recorder pieces in this year's talent show, ‘Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee’ and ‘Skip to My Lou’. Middle school students had a fun time singing two of their favorite songs, ‘We Will Rock You’ by Queen and ‘Let it Go’ from the movie Frozen.”
In addition to the group songs, some students did their own routines. The acts included: Hunter Peyton, Allie Pinston, Andrew Salem, Anthony Salem, and Jocelyn King each playing the piano; Addie Bauder, Alexia Hall, Kamsi Udeagwu, Mack Meade and Lucy Ymalay, and second grade boys with singing performances; and other performances that included Lucy Ymalay dancing to the song “Show Stopper” by Next Step, Piper Darnell and Somto Udeagwu performing Cheese Remix, and Jude Stafford and Elliot Virgin with comedy
The students gave their all for the show and enjoyed the experience.
Fifth grader Piper Darnell commented, “I enjoyed writing and planning the rap Somto and I performed. It was a little nerve-wracking getting up in front of everyone, but I had a good time and it was fun to have the school clap along!”
Akachi Udeagwu, who is in the third grade, remarked, “Performing was fun! I thought it was going to be scary and packed with people, but it ended up being less stressful. I did mess up once or twice, but it was very fun.”
Third grade student, Apollo Darnell, declared, “I had a lot of fun, and it was a great experience. It showed me I could do what I was afraid I couldn’t. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to do my piece in front of the whole school, but in the end, it was a fun time.”
Kindergarten student, Mack Meade shared, “Performing in the school talent show was fantastic! Ms. Peacock teaches me singing, and I want to thank her. She’s so nice.”
Parent James W. King praised the efforts of the students and Ms. Peacock, “The Holy Family talent show was simply amazing. Every participant had a big smile on their face as they sang, danced, told jokes, played piano and guitar, and entertained the crowd. Holy Family School is truly blessed to have such an outstanding and talented music/art teacher in Ms. Peacock. She encourages and brings out the best from each child she instructs.”
Jennifer Darnell, another parent from Holy Family School, agreed, “This was a wonderful opportunity for our students to practice presenting before others. They handled their performances beautifully, with obvious preparation and terrific audience engagement. As a parent, it was a fun glimpse into their school day, and Mrs. Peacock did a great job putting the show together.”
Ms. Peacock enjoyed watching her students bloom before her eyes in their performance. Peacock shared, “Overall I was pleased that so many students wanted to participate and took it so seriously. It was a great opportunity for all students to boost their self-confidence and take the spotlight for a few minutes. Several students surprised me with their hidden talents. Hopefully, everyone enjoyed taking a break and seeing everything from comedy to dancing to singing and playing guitar. The humor that some of the kids came up with on their own was another special treat that made the morning enjoyable. I am pleased that almost everyone in the school wanted to do at least a little something for the talent show. One student, Yatziri Sanchez even made snowflake props in her spare time for the girls to hold while they sang ‘Let it Go.’ The patriotic songs the primary kids sang while I played the piano were definitely one of my favorites. It might be because I have a kindergartener or maybe because they were just so cute.”
Parent Nkechi Udeagwu responded, “I was so glad to see the talent show come back to Holy Family School this year. Ms.Peacock did an amazing job putting the show together. The kids’ performances were very unique to their talents and quite diverse. It shows us what talents we have there and we need to cultivate more of it. My kids were very excited to be part of it and had a wonderful time in the show. I can’t wait to see what we will do next year!”
Ms. Peacock is already making plans for next school year with a musical production of The Lion King. Other programs she intends on continuing include an elementary and a middle school Christmas program, a Veteran's Day program, and provide a vocal and handbell choir for some daily and special mass services.
Without a doubt, Ms. Peacock will continue to make a difference at Holy Family Catholic School as she continues to build students’ interests in the arts in order to find their own talents. Peacock stresses the value the arts have in education stating, “The arts are so important in schools because they help the brain develop creativity and problem-solving skills. Once you get the brain programmed to think creatively, this can be used in many other avenues of life. There are studies that show the importance of art and music in helping to make kids smarter. The performance aspect of music is so exciting for students as well. They have really enjoyed having the opportunity to sing solos or duets in mass and be part of the worship services. The kids also enjoyed our Christmas program and our Talent Show this school year. I am very happy that so many students have shown an interest in art and music at Holy Family.”
Holy Family’s Got Talent! We look forward to seeing what’s in store next year from an amazing teacher and group of talented students.
“Embrace your talent and pursue it. You won’t believe what you can accomplish.”