An eighth-grade Black Hawk Junior High Student is getting a hands on dovetailing lesson. The equipment was donated through the Expanding Horizons Program. There was no music at the Thurgood Marshall Learning Center. There was no chorus teacher, no voice lessons, no piano plunking. Today a small group of students sit before music stands with guitars resting comfortably in their laps.
Music lingers in the halls of Rock Island's only alternative school.
Thurgood Marshall is just one of eight local schools who received grants through Quad City Bank and Trust's Expanding Horizons Project. The project, which began in celebration of QCBT's 5 year anniversary, is designed to show support for area teachers as they struggle to meet the needs of today's students. Bridging the gap between educators' ideas and their budgets, Expanding Horizons provides supplemental funding for projects which expose students to the arts, communications fields, and or elective course material. It will teach a construction technique that is currently being taught with only the use of samples. The school is attempting to develop a TV studio that would broadcast student created media programs thoughout the school.