FAIRMONT — Fairmont Area Schools’ orchestra program has witnessed strong and steady participation for many years. Recently, it has seen a significant increase.

In 2018, the Schmeeckle Foundation gave the school a $50,000 grant to purchase new orchestra and band equipment. This gift has given the program a boost.

Katie Koenning assumed the role of orchestra teacher at Fairmont Area at the start of the 2018-2019 school year. Prior to Koenning, Judy Berkeland held the position for 13 years until her retirement. When Berkeland began, there were just 13 students but the number continued to grow through the years.

Koenning, who began playing the violin when she was 7 years old, attended Stillwater High School.

“That’s where I got my start growing up, participating in a wonderful orchestra program,” she said. “That’s where I got the bug and decided I wanted to be an orchestra teacher.”

She went to Luther College, where she learned to play a little of every instrument. While still a student there, she saw the posting for an open position in Fairmont.

“It looked great. I interviewed and it was exactly what I was looking for. I was really happy when I got the job,” Koenning said.

Though she has been at the school for just two years, Koenning said it has been great to track the growth of the program, which includes students in grades 5-12. Koenning said they ended last year with about 160 students. This year, there are 180.

Just a few months after Koenning began teaching, Fairmont Area received the grant from the Schmeeckle Foundation.

Superintendent Joe Brown said, “The grant was for $50,000, but the school board matched it with $100,000. So we bought $150,000 worth of new equipment for the band and orchestra programs.”

Brown said the idea to apply for the grant came about after a study was done that showed that a low percentage of students on free or reduced lunch plans were in band or orchestra, compared to other students.

“If you’re of a lower economic status, families won’t be able to spend money on additional things [such as instruments],” Brown said.

Koenning said a lot of the increase in participation has been among younger students. She said that typically 8 to 12 students in orchestra graduate each year, but about 50 fifth-graders start. This year, several sixth-graders joined and even a few older students, something Koenning says is quite rare.

“The district is amazingly supportive,” she said. “I have students from St. Paul Lutheran and St. John Vianney. I don’t currently have any home-schooled students but we’re certainly open to that too. They’re really good about working with anyone that wants to join the program and I don’t know that that’s common in other districts.”

Brown said any student in the region can take orchestra in Fairmont.

“You don’t have to come here full time, but can enroll part time,” he said. “It’s important to collaborate with our neighboring students where we can. The first thing schools usually cut is the fine arts. Fairmont is one of the few districts in this part of the state that still has an orchestra program, and the fact that it’s growing is great.”

Aside from giving opportunities to more students to participate in band and orchestra, another idea behind the grant was to help bring together community members to form a countywide orchestra program. Koenning said last summer there were about 30 people of all ages and backgrounds who rehearsed and put on a concert at Red Rock Center in Fairmont. They called the program Summer Symphony.

Koenning is grateful for the increased interest from students to join orchestra. She knows the benefits of music are high, especially now.

“Right now with a lot of uncertainty and scary things happening, people are turning to music and the arts more than ever,” she said. “In the things you see on Facebook, YouTube and the news, you see people going onto their steps and singing, or people sending videos to their grandparents. Music is lifting people right now. It’s great to see how music is incorporated through our culture.”