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Show BACKSTAGE ... DESERET Decision Time By STEVE HALE Deseret News Stall Writer Somebody called "twenty seconds!" and a hush fell over the Mage at Kearns High as the terrible swift second hand moved toward 9 p.m. and the moment 168 high school seniors would take their turns before the TV cameras. Sterling Scholars all, they had been a laughing, talkative Jot until this moment came. Now their air was expectant, apprehensive. They were awaiting some judgments. NEWS, Wednesday, April 17, 1968 A7 ' sw All are splendid students, and in this, their last year of high school, they had faced judgments before from scholarship committees, colleges, awards panels . . . But this was different. Their pictures had been published in The Deseret News, and now they were going to be on television and radio. It was their generation's day m the sun a switch from the wrong kind of headlines. Thomas Slagle, Highland High's entrant in in Industrial Arts division, may have been more nervous than the othe.s. He had a date With a sugeon this morning for a tonsilectomy. If Bonneville Highs Mike Vance hadn't been onstage, he might have been home practicing on a musical instrument that could be one answer to the gold shortage a flute. Mike paid $3,500 for it, and that money could have gone for a neat car, as Mikes generation puts it. He earned the money playing for the Utah Symphony Orchestra. Hillcrests William Warner told a reporter he planned a career in art. I'll probably starve, he grinned. Off went the stage lights and the voice of Paul James floated around the curtain to the youngsters backstage. Lights. Curtain. Applause. Now KSLs Wes Bowen was reading the names of each finalist. Only one man, Deseret News Education Editor Lavor Chaffin, knew the winner's names, and he wasnt talking. He stood there behind a quarter curtain, reading the faces of the winners as Mr. James discussed their accomplishments before naming them. Bill Warner, a nervous type, fidgeted. But he smiled broadly when his name echoed through the big auditorium as the winner. Bountifuls Alan Smith, who will tell the world he someday plans to be President of the United States, is the dead-patype. His face betrayed no sign that he recognized himself during the description of his achievements. The young politician won the judges vote and flashed a happy smile when he learned about n it Jordans Kayleen Fitzgerald winced, smiled and stifled a little cry of surprise when she was called to the top step on the winners platform. But every one of the 168 students onstage was a winner. Each was a living affirmation that this generation of young Americans has a rendezvous with greatness. It was written on the pretty face of Granger's Jane Shelby, a lonesome figure in a sea of young men in the Science division. Jane, the only girl in that category, plans someday to become a medical doctor. It was there in the eyes of Marden Jensen Pond, a Highland student who also postponed the purchase of a car to buy a musical instrument a fluegelhom. It was there in the speechlessness of Susan Marie Morley, who, when she hasnt just won a top Sterling Scholar award, can converse in five languages. It was there in every proud parents smile, every teachers handshake, every shout from a little brother or sister in the audience. One man in the audience put it this way: Somebody's going to hear from those Hill-cres- Happy Industrial Arts winners Mika Archuleta, Raymond Tom, Bruce Finch and hostess DeAnn Evans. kids. Desert News Photos by English winners Patricia Beeley, Bountiful; Van Craig Gessel East, and And The Parents? They Worry A Lot By HAL KNIGHT Deseret News Staff Writer Most of the Sterling Scholar finalists went through the considerable night Itwith in was the parents aplomb. the audience who were the nervous wrecks. I nearly fainted, said the mother of Kayleen Fitzgerald, the Jordan High coed who won top honors in the business category. Its much harder on the parents," agreed Mr. and North Eldon Orton, Mrs. Ogden, whose son Paul, represented Weber High in general scholarship. "We just sit here and worry while the youngsters are they said. But win or not, all the parents were just bursting with pride for their talented They cheered the winners in each category, but classed all the finalists as winners in a larger sense. The scholars apparently felt the same way too, figuring that it was a major reward just to be included in the awards program. Our son Reid told us that no matter what happens, its been a real pleasure just to be in it," said Mr. and Mrs. Arlo Shelley of American Fork. It was a comment echoed by many other parents attending the program. Another comment made by numerous parents was to the effect that they didn't "push or "help" or give influence or advantages to the family scholar. "lie just went out and did it on his own." was a statement made by quite a few couples referring to their Sterling Scholar children. A surprising numlier of patents of the finalists were the both school teachers, mother and father in several cases. 4 By HAROLD LUNDSTROM Deseret News Music Editor Add or subtract as you will, there can be no other sum Utah has a prodithan this gious number of richly enaccomdowed and highly plished teenaged musicians. "I didnt even graduate from college myself until I had six children in school, said Alma Pate. Bountiful, whose son Alma, was a finalist in the industrial arts category. Another school teacher pair, Mr. and Mrs. Lavell Miller, North Logan, parents of Marianne Miller, Sky View High, who was winner in homemak-ing- , observed that youngsters were getting smarter all the time. With a grin they said their Not only were there 14 Sterling Scholar musicians on stage who can hold their own in competitions the world around, about also adding to the gaiety of the Sterling Scholars Awards Program there were three performing ensembles. daughter started talking most as soon as she was born and hasnt stopped since." In all cases the Sterling "al- Highland's happy Charles Contant knows he's won General Scholarship as Ted Adams, Davis; Donna Coy, Bingham, still listen. Hal-lad- One kindergarten. And And appropriate for the these occasion, sparkling ensembles reflected not the musical tastes perhaps of their teachers but the musical roots of their own generation what teenagers must play now, hear now, and feel now. The relevance of their items on the televised program was present tense. of ensembles, David was a finalist in the industrial arts category. Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Robsaid their erts. Smithfield, daughter Roslyn used to play secretary when she was a small girl while all the other little girls were busy playing house. her enthusiasm really soared when they bought her a typewriter in junior high school. Roslyn was a finalist in the business category. Much of the priae expressed bv the parents was for traits shown by their youngsters above and beyond mere academic scholarship. All of them told stories of activities in music and debate and of a desire to be helpful and compassionate for the rest of society. Johnson and 0. Wallace Kesteier Memmott, Skyline, share spotlight. Sterling Harmony students. to Cltudell ENSEMBLES ADD GAY TOUCH But they too insisted they didnt provide any special influence in the emergence of their youngsters as brilliant Scholars brilliance showed up early, accoiding ttheir parents. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph A. said their son David started drawing as soon as he was old enough to get a grip on a pencil and was sketching house interiors before he went Lynn W. Provo's Sharon Bradford, left, reacts with demure smile, but elation grips Jordan's Kayleen Fitzgerald. eyes-dose- d Utah's the smoothest High East Stage Band, with its leader, Dow Young not only played all the fanfares needed to help present the 168 Sterling Scholars on stage, but also it came up with its own center-stag- e ottering of Count Basies evergreen, One OClock Jump. It was done with a positive beat and caught one off guard with some excellent newer and bluer harmonizations. With the help of some pleas- ant guitar touches, the ite High Gran- Madrigal by Ralph Singers, directed Rogers, demonstrated that folk sing- ing with a beat and with an eye on the fun of rock-a-rocan be just as carefully and artistically presented as the standard and frequently dull choral singing of a genera lion ago. ll This ensemble that was almost as much fun to watch as hear (it had some intonation here and there), problems reflected joy in singing Goin Out of My Head" and Up, Up. And Away." The Kearns High Concert Choir also skirted the area of the traditionally dull for them and bounced along gaily with Wholl Be A Witness" and Early One Morning. The choir was ably directed by Richard B. Pearce. It opened its part of the program with the Tabernacle Choirs celebrated Willhousky arrangement of the "Battle ft Hymn of the Republic. might have been better to have selected a less challenging work. But it climbed high with the excellency of its performance of Roger Wagners Heritage of Freedom, that was a fitting finale to the musiil program. Mr. Young built the fires high in the Sterling Scholars Awards Program theme Scholar! music, Sterling D. Carlyle composed by Baker of West High seveial seasons ago. |