Students and volunteers hailed as orchestra program returns to Hobbs schools
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Summary
Students from Hobbs schools performed for the board and community members praised a student-led Orchestra Club that has grown into a 30-member community orchestra; volunteers and visiting clinicians were credited with helping revive interest and staff said they will explore adding orchestra as a class.
Student musicians from Hobbs Municipal Schools opened the board meeting with several pieces and received praise from teachers, volunteers and board members, who described the performance as evidence that local interest in formal orchestra instruction has returned.
Cindy Roberts, the students' piano instructor and club advisor, told the board that Julio — who helped found both the school Orchestra Club and a larger Community Orchestra with Michael Orcutt — has organized clinics with professionals from New Mexico and Texas, including Dr. Mark Jelanek, a Hobbs graduate and Southwest Symphony conductor. Roberts said the students perform beyond school events and that clinicians have visited at no cost to the district.
Julio (a student who spoke at the meeting) traced the club's origin to an informal group of friends and said the initiative grew into a club that now meets weekly and has run community concerts and clinics. He told the board he plans to attend Eastern this fall to major in music education and piano and urged the district to consider how it could offer orchestra as a formal class taught by a strings professional, alongside existing band and choir programs.
Community volunteer Sandra Baxter commended Julio and the intergenerational community orchestra — which she said includes participants aged about 7 to 75 — and described music education as transformative, citing research connecting music and math learning. Board members and staff thanked the students, their advisors and volunteers and invited the community to upcoming concerts.
The board did not take a formal action to create a new orchestra course during the meeting but staff and trustees described willingness to work with administrators, teachers and parents to explore options. The performance and associated volunteer and clinician support were presented as evidence of renewed local interest that district leaders said could inform future curriculum or program decisions.