Everybody likes a feel-good story. Even better is one that sounds good too.
That’s what happened Thursday night at a performance of Celtic Woman at The Theatre in Grand Prairie.
Here’s the 411. John Fletcher, marketing/PR owner of Fletcher Consulting in Hurst and a frequent Business Press contributor, is a friend of Grandview Elementary School Principal Kathrine Stewart. Grandview has a so-cool, so-Texan group of elementary and middle school students called the Zebra Strings. According to Fletcher, Grandview is the only public elementary school in Texas that requires every student to spend one hour per day, throughout the school year, playing a stringed instrument.
Fletcher was watching KERA public TV recently and saw a special on Celtic Woman. Fletcher, who obviously knows something about marketing and PR, contacted Celtic Woman management and told them the story of Zebra Strings. The story of Zebra Strings so impressed Celtic Woman management that they scheduled the meet-and-greet the students prior to the Grand Prairie concert. The Zebra Strings students serenaded the four Celtic Women with four short songs. The students were then treated to the sound check, where they saw the performers in a rehearsal, and they returned at 7:30 for the performance. Grandview Bank joined with the Grandview PTA to pay for the trip and promotion.
Zebra Strings director, Vicki Nichols, said “What a great honor for our Zebra Strings to meet this extremely talented group. I know our students will learn so much about what goes on behind the scenes of this beautiful production of the Celtic Woman. And we were thrilled to have the opportunity to play with Celtic Woman!”
“This is a chance of a lifetime for our students,” says Grandview Elementary School Principal, Kathrine Stewart. “To learn from a world-renowned group as Celtic Woman just brings music education to a higher level. When the door opened for us to possibly get this chance, we jumped on it just hopeful to get to talk with them. We are as excited as the students at this opportunity.”
The four members of Celtic Woman – all from Ireland and all with Irish names – are:
Tara McNeill
Megan Walsh
Mairead Carlin
Eabha McMahon