Mendham Students Honored For Outstanding Vocal Talent

Two students from Mendham schools were among several honored by the Mayo Performing Arts Center as a November Music Student Of The Month for being an outstanding vocalist.

Grace Fleischer, a senior at West Morris Mendham High, and Elizabeth Scharfenberg, an eighth grader at Mountain View Middle School, were honored on stage before the Nov. 8 concert at Mayo PAC. All the students were nominated by their teachers and chosen by Mayo PAC's education department. At the end of the year, all honored students will be invited to perform in a recital.

Here is what Patricia Danner had to say about Grace Fleischer:

Grace has been a member of the Mendham HS Choir for four years, and is not only a strong singer, but a fearless leader. Right from the start, Grace wanted to be involved and help out. She joined our acapella group (Treble Makers) and became a Choir Secretary as a sophomore. She continues as Secretary in her junior year and also became the Ensemble Manager for Treble Makers. As a senior, Grace is the student director of Treble Makers, Soprano Section Leader in the choir, and the Choir President. In addition to doing the many additional tasks that are required of these positions, Grace leads her fellow choir students by example every day in class. She asks great questions, showing that she really understands what it will take for the groups to improve. Finally Grace has a beautiful singing voice, and has excelled as both a choral singer and soloist in our ensembles. Grace performed as a lead in our Spring Musical last year, and truly amazed the audience! She is a star performer in so many ways.

Here is what Bradley McMurray had to say about Elizabeth Scharfenberg:

Elizabeth joined my choir in 6th grade and sang with a very unsupported and airy tone. She approached me about singing a song separately from the choir and sang with a beautiful and strong chest voice that blew me away. Since then, she has been working and improving to mix her strong chest voice into a nice choral sound as well as working on breath and support to improve her solo singing. She has auditioned and received a couple solos in school as well as the school musical. Her voice is a natural leader to my honors choir.

Front Row: (Left to Right): Lindsay Bush, Grade 8, Rockaway Valley School; Boonton. Samantha Schnur, Grade 7, The Peck School; Morristown. Mia Cicarelli, Grade 8, Ridgedale Middle School; Florham Park. Amelia Diaz, Grade 8, Randolph Middle School; Randolph. Alexa Giacoio, Grade 12, Kinnelon High School; Kinnelon.

SECOND ROW: Grace Fleischer, Grade 12, West Morris Mendham High School; Mendham. Jalan Royal, Grade 8, Brooklawn Middle School; Parsippany. Katilin Brown, Grade 8, Harding Township School; New Vernon.

Not pictured: Aisha Rehan, Grade 8, Central Middle School; Parsippany. Elizabeth Scharfenberg, Grade 8, Mountain View Middle School; Mendham. Lars Olsen, Grade 12, West Morris Central High School.