House Bill 9479

    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HR 9479

        By Representatives Turnbull, Lawson, Boyd and Westbrook






  1                         House Resolution

  2         A resolution in recognition of the Boys' Choir

  3         of Tallahassee.

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  5         WHEREAS, the Florida State University School of Social

  6  Work's Boys' Choir of Tallahassee is a community outreach

  7  program for boys who come from public and private schools

  8  throughout the Tallahassee area, and

  9         WHEREAS, the Boys' Choir of Tallahassee continues to

10  prepare young men for the 21st century through music,

11  discipline, and academic excellence, and

12         WHEREAS, with its motto "No Excuses," the choir

13  continues to grow in popularity on the local, state, national,

14  and international level, and

15         WHEREAS, when the program began in August 1995, the

16  choir had just 25 members, and

17         WHEREAS, membership has increased from 40 at the end of

18  the first year to a current membership of 93, with an age

19  range of 7 to 18 years, and

20         WHEREAS, the Boys' Choir of Tallahassee focuses its

21  efforts on counseling and tutoring choir members with study

22  hall sessions of three hours three times each week, with choir

23  members being required to attend four major groups on

24  self-esteem, reading, juvenile justice, and relationships, and

25         WHEREAS, choir administrators monitor closely each

26  member who joins the choir and provides the support needed to

27  ensure full involvement in all study and counseling sessions,

28  and

29         WHEREAS, these sessions have enabled the choir members

30  to believe in their ability to achieve and excel academically

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    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HR 9479

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  1  and to prepare them mentally to perform with a positive

  2  attitude about themselves, and

  3         WHEREAS, the Boys' Choir of Tallahassee has attended

  4  numerous performances over the last two years, including a

  5  special performance celebrating the legacy of the Reverend Dr.

  6  Martin Luther King, Jr., in Coral Springs, Florida, and

  7         WHEREAS, the Boys' Choir of Tallahassee has performed

  8  at churches, convention halls, nursing homes, and group homes

  9  in Miami, White Springs, Jacksonville, and Orlando, Florida,

10  and in Thomasville, Georgia, and

11         WHEREAS, the choir gave the opening performance for

12  Natalie Cole at the Tallahassee Civic Center on April 29,

13  1997, and

14         WHEREAS, but of all its many performances over the past

15  two years, the most notable performances occurred when the

16  Boys' Choir of Tallahassee traveled to Freeport, Bahamas, to

17  participate in the International Music Festivals competition,

18  and

19         WHEREAS, there the choir competed against 165 ensembles

20  from across the world and received the First Place Gold Medal

21  for the Mens' Choir, the First Place Gold Medal for the Choral

22  Division, the First Place Gold Medal Overall Ensemble, and the

23  Grand Sweepstakes Award recognizing the ensemble with the

24  highest score, 98.5 out of a possible 100 points, and

25         WHEREAS, then on January 27, 1998, the Tallahassee

26  Boys' Choir traveled to Washington, D.C., where hours before

27  President Clinton's State of the Union Address they performed

28  at the nation's showcase, the Millinieum Stage at the Kennedy

29  Center, and

30         WHEREAS, these successes have made a tremendous impact

31  on the self-esteem of the choir members, enabling each member

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    Florida House of Representatives - 1998                HR 9479

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  1  to see himself in a larger, world-wide context of personal

  2  possibilities and opportunities for the future, and with each

  3  performance they give, instilling in choir members the

  4  knowledge that they have the ability to achieve and excel,

  5  NOW, THEREFORE,

  6

  7  Be It Resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of

  8  Florida:

  9

10         That the House of Representatives of the State of

11  Florida hereby recognizes and commends the Boys' Choir of

12  Tallahassee.

13         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution

14  be presented to Earl Lee, Jr., director of the Boys' Choir of

15  Tallahassee, as a tangible token of the sentiments expressed

16  herein.

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