ColchesterTalks.com Free and open access to Colchester's rich history.
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ColchesterTalks.com Free and open access to Colchester's rich history.
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There are several great resources of Bacon Academy history in print through the excellent efforts of The Bacon Academy Board of Trustees. This section is devoted to preserving this history on the Internet and increasing the interest and appreciation of that history.
The best band in the land for 2006? The following history snippets are taken from the pages of The Baconian 1953 yearbook and Alumni Beacon of 1953. We would like to acknowledge the generosity of the Bacon Academy Library staff making these publications available.
Read some sample pages from 1953
For 159 years, Bacon Academy was a private school of learning entirely controlled by its Board of Trustees. Click here for a detailed history of Bacon Academy's origins. In brief, there are many Baconian facts of interest. Did you know?
1962- Present: Since the early 1960's, Bacon Academy fell under the authority of the Colchester Board of Education and was entirely funded by the Town of Colchester. In addition, with a new High School in place, students were moved out of the old Bacon Academy. Though no longer a private school, Bacon Academy still carries on the tradition of excellence and noteworthiness. As time permits, we will add stories of the "modern" history of Bacon Academy. 2006: Wednesday Night Jazz band captures 1st place! by JDMIII
This jazz night concert seemed very similar to the many others I had attended. Mr. Kessler was engaging and the bands were entertaining. Towards the end of the concert, all of the sudden all the lights went out. The theme song for 2001 a Space Odyssey began to play. At it crescendo, a spotlight shined upon a glass obelisk trophy.
This was no ordinary trophy. As Mr. Kessler and the bands already knew, this was a first place trophy. It also was not from an ordinary competition. It was the Berklee College of Music’s 38th Annual High School Jazz Festival. This annual event is the largest and premier High School Jazz Festival in the United States. High schools from as far away as Portland, OR and Bloomington, IN attended this great event.
In 2006, Colchester’s Bacon Academy Wednesday Night Jazz band was first in the Class IV division. This division had nineteen other schools with similar size of Grades 10-12. In this division, schools came from places like West Warwick, RI; Pine Hill, NJ; and Scarborough, ME. In addition, three schools within this division were state champions. [Mr. Kessler did want to make note that Connecticut does not have a state championship competition.]
While this year is a proud moment for the Bacon Academy Music Department, it’s not the first. Bacon Academy also placed first in this event six years ago. It has also placed second three times.
When I asked Mr. Kessler to sum it all up for me, he wrote, “The top bands get to play on the Festival Stage in front of a crowd of near 1000. At the awards ceremony, there are nearly 2500, mostly screaming HS teens. And when they hear a school recognized, that school carries a reputation. This is what we enjoy in Colchester, and our students accept that role responsibly.”
(1) Alumni Beacon 1953 p. 25 |
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