St. Michael's holds Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser

Members of St. Michael's Senior Rock Band
T. Lucas photos

Chris Davis, Pincher Creek Voice

Everywhere I go, the kids want to rock.

About 140 people attended the St. Michael's School Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Auction on Thursday evening, February 14 in the Dale Wentz Memorial Gymnasium.  The money raised by the event will go towards the school's sports programs.  Entertainment was provided by the Senior Rock Band.

"The money raised from our last silent auction went to new jersey's for our Senior High volleyball teams, tournament fees, travel expenses, and some phys. ed. equipment," said St. Michael's Athletic Director Tyler Speelman.  "This year, the money will go towards new basketball uniforms for both the senior high boys and girls, travel expenses, and P.E. equipment.  You can never, ever have enough P.E. equipment, as a gym teacher."


"This community continues to  impress me year after year with it's fantastic support of our athletic program here at St. Michael's."

Mr. Speelman pointed to the many banners adorning the gym's wall, saying they highlighted some of the athletic achievements of the school's students.

Mr. Krizan's Senior Rock Band entertained the crowd with four rousing classic-rock selections: 'Summer of '69' and 'Kids Wanna Rock' by Bryan Adams, 'Where the Streets Have No Name' by U2, and 'Peace of Mind' by Boston.

According to Mr. Krizan there are 10 kids in the Senior Band, "One will be graduating this year,"  and about 15 kids in the Middle School Band.  The gear they use is a mix of his own, student owned, and school supplied equipment.

"We do this every couple years," he explained.   "We play a few songs at this thing, and we have an open house in April.

"This is our fifth year on it.  I took the idea from a guy that had a program on it in St. Francis in Lethbridge and we copied that.  Ours is a little bit different, because he had a grade eight guitar program, and he'd feed them into the grade nine program, and they'd do a concert, maybe be a part of a musical, versus us, we take all comers.  So we have some that might have a bit of ability, and maybe some with none, and hodgepodge that together and get them to produce a product."

"The biggest thing is the concert at the end of the year.  We try to get a set out of the senior high, and we have a guest performer, usually from the staff, or a few staff members."

"We're fortunate to have a lot of support from the administration, and the community, and Friends of St. Michael's, we got a lot of support from them and Principal Don Kutchinson. Bill Torvi, he gave us this board," Krizan said, showing off a fairly modern Mackie mixing board.

He said the biggest challenge for his young proteges was "Being aware of dynamics.  Syncing up, making sure you're following the count, trying to get your drummer and bassist to be tight together, just learning how to play as a group.  Try to listen to everybody, not just yourself."

"I think everybody has music in them, and everybody has the ability to make it.  I think rhythm is there naturally in us."

Mr. Krizan said it would be nice to have a few more electric guitars, in good shape, for the program.