Shawsheen students say goodbye to longtime music teacher

​Children in costumes ranging from Indians and fairies to sleepy children and the family dog run around the Northridge High School auditorium, anxiously awaiting rehearsal for their upcoming play, “Peter Pan Jr.”

Volunteer stage crew and parents fix stage props and lighting to help get the rehearsal underway. This is a typical weeknight for Larry Scovil and his Shawsheen Thunderbird choir, and coincidentally, the capstone to his career.

Scovil has been a music teacher at Shawsheen Elementary School, 4020 7th St., for the past decade. “Peter Pan Jr.,” the Thunderbird’s upcoming play, will be Scovil’s 10th and final production at Shawsheen. The Shawsheen Thunderbirds is a volunteer choir group of fourth- and fifth-graders who have a passion for singing.

Scovil and the Thunderbirds perform several concerts throughout the school year, but once a year they also put on a play. Preparations for the play go on for 12 weeks, while students and volunteers meet for three hours a night, five days a week.

“I tell people that I have the best job in the world,” said Scovil, reflecting on his teaching career. He also performs services at Christ Community Church, 1301 15th St. in Greeley, and is the assistant conductor of the Greeley Chorale, a voice choir of over 80 adult singers.

“He has been very successful at Shawsheen. Students there looked forward to being fourth-graders and fifth-graders because they got to be in a play that he has chosen for that year,” said Rose Downs, president of Shawsheen’s Parent Teacher Group.

Scovil will stay on at Shawsheen for one more year as a music teacher, but he will not put on another play.

“Most elementary teachers don’t want to do something like this,” said Scovil. “I started it, and I want to be the one to end it. I don’t want to see the next person come in and have everybody not like them because they didn’t do what I did. Ten is a really good number to end at.”

Knowing Scovil’s time at Shawsheen is coming to a close, many fourth- and fifth-graders are ecstatic to be able to participate in the final production.

“For the fourth-graders this is their only play with him, so to them it’s a big deal,” said Downs.

Anna Hubbard is a fifth-grader who will play Peter Pan this year.

“I was in Pinocchio last year, and it made a difference in my life,” she said.

While students like fourth-grader Josh Downs and fifth-grader Mel Horner participated because they knew it was Scovil’s last production, Jacob Murphy, fifth-grade, is involved for personal aspirations.

“I was in the play last year, and I wanted to challenge myself to play a bigger role this year,” said Murphy.


​*For original version published in the Greeley Tribune click HERE