VIDEO: Seniors Say Goodbye, Officials Look Forward After Spring Concert

Manchester vocal and instrumental performers showcased their talents during the 2011 spring concert at the gym last week.

The school's concert choir, band, cantate honors choir, jazz combo and jazz band played for an audience of about 100 in the high school gym. Damage to the ceiling of the recently renovated auditorium originally forced the scheduling of the concert onto the athletic field, but school officials were forced to again move the event inside when rain threatened.

"They were so flexible they made it work in the gym. I was very pleased with that," said Superintendent of Schools David Trethaway.

Sarah Thiffault, who declined to be interviewed for this article, led the singers, while first-year teacher Raymond Sinclair directed the band.

"I thought the concert was outstanding," Trethaway said. "Ms. Thiffault does a great job all the time and Mr. Sinclair in his first year as band director has done an outstanding job with the program. We're very happy."

Sinclair said that four senior performers are graduating in June, but he expects to grow the program when about 20 incoming freshman and 20 other high school students join next year.

"I'm really excited about that for next season," he said. "We had a few important seniors graduate, but on the flip side we have a lot of students coming in."

"It's kind of like a sports team — you've got to do some rebuilding," Trethaway said. "We've got some students coming up from the middle school. We've got a nice program there. They have some talented underclassmen, too, but we had an outstanding senior group this year."

Some of Thiffault's graduating performers said that, while they were sad to leave the high school, they were also thankful for the guidance of their director.

"She taught me everything and is an amazing mentor," said Grace Login, who will study music next year at Georgian Court University in Lakewood. "She is an amazing mentor in life and in music. We all almost cried during the last piece. It's bittersweet."

Megan DiMaiolo, who plans to study international affairs and continue music as a hobby at James Madison University in Virginia, said that the final performance was "very sad, but we all know that its time to move on. Ms. Thiffault has led us all these years. She's like our mother in school."

Trethaway said that this concert served as an example of why administrators "fight so hard for the budget," which was , with $135,000 in cuts by the town council, after voters defeated it in April.

"It's for extracurricular things like this," he said. "The kids are outstanding and have so much talent."

Nearly through with his first year, Sinclair said that he is "still getting used to the district and New Jersey in general."

"It's starting to grow on me and I'm really happy for everyone and their support in this whole process. I'm really excited to see where the program is going to go

While he may still be adjusting to life in Manchester after relocating from Connecticut, Sinclair is nonetheless impressed with the students and parents in town.

"I thought it was great for the community to come out and I was very happy with the performances all around — choir and band," he said. "I'm definitely very proud and happy of the students and I'm looking forward to next year already."