FOLLOWUP: Here’s what West Seattle High School’s Ethan Thomas plans to do with that grant from Barry Manilow

(Photo courtesy Ethan Thomas)

By Hayden Yu Andersen
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

When Ethan Thomas first learned he had been awarded a $10,000 grant, he didn’t believe it.

“One of the counselors saw it on the news and mentioned it to me in passing,” the West Seattle High School band teacher said, “I thought she was mistaken, but she sent me and my colleague Taylor Fritts the news article link. I was astonished when I found out I won.”

As we reported one month ago, the grant was awarded as part of the Manilow Music Project, a program organized by award-winning musician Barry Manilow. Last month, Manilow performed at Climate Pledge Arena for the last time, as a part of his final tour, titled “The Last Concerts.” At each stop along the tour, community members have been invited to vote for their favorite music teacher, with nominated teachers receiving grants to help support their music programs.

We followed up with Thomas to find out his plans for the grant.

$10,000 may seem like a lot, but according to Thomas, music programs are costly. “Depending on the year and the SPS budget,” he said, “my colleague and I receive around $300 from the district to run our entire music program.” Typically, this amounts to roughly one dollar per student. Instead, West Seattle depends primarily on community support through bi-annual fundraisers, which usually raise about $20,000. This money goes towards new music, instrument repairs, band trips, uniform expenses, and scholarships for all three band programs. For some context, the cost of a single Alto Saxophone ranges between $600 to $2,500, and a single High School band can consist of anywhere between 50 and 150 members.

Fortunately for Thomas, the Manilow Music Project has a deal with online music retailer Sweetwater, which gives them special pricing on instruments, and there are no spending or time stipulations on the grant. This means they’ll be able to spend it on anything they need. Currently, one of West Seattle High School’s most pressing needs is a new tuba, which can often cost upwards of $6,000. They’re also considering buying a new bass, which is similarly expensive.

“We want our programs to be equitable and accessible to all students, and owning an instrument can be a barrier for some,” Thomas said. “We want to be able to provide students with a quality instrument that they can borrow from the school for free. … Without that money from the Manilow Music Project, we would be responsible for raising all the money for those purchases on our own. We are certainly grateful to the Manilow Music Project for supporting music programs in the cities they visit.

“I am so very grateful to work in the WSHS community,” concluded Thomas, who has been West Seattle High School’s band director since 2012. “It is humbling to think that enough people voted for me to win this award. I am very thankful for my students, their families, and those in our community that voted for me and their faith in me as a Music teacher.”

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