The plucky Deer Park High School Chorus recently entered the New York Sings contest run by the New York Lottery, vying for the chance to win $2,500, $5,000 or $10,000 prize donations to the school’s music program.
To fulfill the contest guidelines, the participating students were asked to film a video of the chorus singing Andrew Gold’s inspirational 1978 hit “Thank You for Being a Friend,” later popularized as the theme of “The Golden Girls” television series. The video (click here to view), led by choir director Kristen Lombardo and featuring soloists Olivia Grizzle, Jessica Orelus, Destiny Smith and Alec Winters, was filmed by students in Jill Perry-Eising’s multimedia class. They were then required to upload the video footage to the New York Sings Facebook page.
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Entries will be judged on talent, creativity, uniqueness and quality of presentation, with five finalists named by a panel from the Lottery and its advertising agency, DBB New York. The Lottery’s Facebook fans will choose the final three prize winners, with voting running through March 27 and winners announced on March 31.
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New York Sings was launched in February as part of the New York Lottery’s current “Mission for Education” campaign, which serves to remind the public that the Lottery’s sole core function is to give back to New York State education through aid to local school districts. More than $3 billion was provided to the state’s schools last year alone through the Lottery’s enterprises, with more than $48 billion in educational funding since its 1967 inception.
